Political Quotes

“Madam President, I come to the floor to ask unanimous consent on two pieces of legislation. The first one is a bipartisan amendment that I have with Senator Klobuchar. It has been cleared on both sides of the aisle. It does not cost anything. It is noncontroversial, and I am not aware of any opposition or controversy about it. I filed this amendment as soon as we were on the bill and have been asking for a vote ever since. I am happy to accept a voice vote. I do not understand why that is not possible. This amendment is entitled ``Assisting Broadband Connectivity Act'' that Senator Klobuchar and I introduced last month. This amendment will make changes to the rural broadband program at USDA so that areas aren't automatically ineligible for Federal funding because a project previously received State funding. In other words, if a project got State money, now they can't qualify for Federal money. This change will ease the administrative burden for those applying to provide broadband in rural America. However, this won't change the requirements for Rural Utilities Service when they administer these programs, such as overbuild and coordination with other broadband entities. This bill also provides more flexibility with funding and resources by allowing States to use funds received from the Federal Government, such as COVID State funding, to be used for the matching fund provision that is required for most applications.…”