During the March 1 State of the Union Address, President Biden announced plans to expand Internet access for Americans.
"We’re going to provide — provide affordable high-speed Internet for every American — rural, suburban, urban and tribal communities. Four thousand projects have already been announced. Many of you have announced them in your districts," he said during the address.
President Biden's address comes after the Winter National Governor's Association in which Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo spoke of the Digital Equity Initiative which was funded by the Biden Administration's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The initiative is meant to close the technological divide between Americans, which Raimondo described as being 'crucial' to recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.
In October 2021, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced a significant expansion of access to high-speed Internet for millions of rural Americans. The announcement came as part of Biden's Build Back Better bill, which primarily seeks to prioritize economic growth in rural America and invest in in the middle class. A month later, the USDA began accepting applications for up to $1.15 billion in loans and grants to expand the availability of broadband in rural areas.
For the past few decades, the USDA has been investing in rural telecommunications infrastructure to support the availability of high-speed Internet in rural communities. According to the USDA, more than $1 billion to date has been used for expansion efforts.
