More than 500,000 Pennsylvanians lack access to fast and reliable internet service at their homes, often adding a layer of difficulty to students who are trying to learn, to businesspeople who are trying to engage in commerce from their homes, or to patients who are trying to connect with their physicians for telehealth visits. As I travel throughout my district, I hear from farmers who struggle to implement precision farming due to a lack of GPS signal. When I visit schools, I hear from teachers about students who struggle to complete their homework simply because they lack access to high-speed internet in their homes. These problems are persistent, and each contributes to the larger issue: that rural communities are suffering from a lack of access to broadband internet. To ensure that our rural communities are not left behind, it is time for Congress to commit to building out rural broadband infrastructure as part of the agriculture and rural development appropriations. Ensuring high-speed internet connections, whether from fiber-optic cables, wireless towers, or satellite, will ensure that students are able to learn from home, that employees are able to work from home, and that patients are able to heal from home. We as a Congress must stand committed to rural broadband development. Protecting Our Farmland
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