Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said he is on board with President Donald Trump's proposal to include rural broadband money in an infrastructure legislative package.
Related: Trump: Rural Broadband Will Be Part of Infrastructure Package
“President Trump understands high-speed broadband service is essential to supporting rural economies, boosting job creation, and helping farmers deploy precision agriculture technology,” Wicker said in a statement. “I look forward to working with the president to close the broadband gap in rural communities and bring American Internet infrastructure into the 21st century.”
The president, in a speech to Iowa college students, said getting broadband to rural areas was crucial for the high-tech current and future farmers of America.
This has been Technology Week for the Administration, including meetings with tech leaders about next-generation wireless broadband. Wicker chaired a hearing on the Universal Service Fund this week, which is used to subsidize broadband in hard-to-reach and tough-to-make-a business-case-for areas.
Wicker has also introduced the Rural Wireless Access Act of 2017, which would ensure the government has good data so those dollars are spent where they are really needed.
