Of that total, $80 billion would be set aside for deploying new broadband networks or expanding existing ones to reach those who currently canвЂ™t get a signal. Right on cue, all 32 Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee proposed a far-reaching infrastructure measure that would authorize more than $109 billion to expand broadband access throughout the country in an effort to close whatвЂ™s become known as вЂњthe digital divide,вЂќ the gap between those who can access the internet at home and those who cannot.

Last week, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said broadband would be among the priorities for the upcoming infrastructure package, which she called вЂњbig, bold and transformational.вЂќ Several coronavirus-related aid packages that Congress passed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic included money for broadband, but not on the scale that Democrats are eyeing for the upcoming package. Now that President Joe Biden has signed into law the $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package that Congress passed last week, Democratic lawmakers are beginning to focus on the next big-ticket item on their legislative agenda, a massive infrastructure package,В and the broadband money they plan to include in it.

Infrastructure bill 2021