There is a “digital divide” in Minnesota, and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar wants to do something about it.
The “divide” is mostly between rural areas that often have no connections to the Internet and urban areas that do.
Klobuchar helped secure $85 million in federal funds for Minnesota to be used for rural broadband development that will help connect more than 170,000 homes and businesses in the state to high-speed Internet.
In addition to this funding, Klobuchar is also co-sponsoring a bill with Republican Sen. John Thune of South Dakota to require the Federal Communications Commission to modernize its support for rural broadband services to better fit the needs of people.
Currently, Internet support is dependent on traditional telephone services, meaning people with a package of phone and broadband service can receive support but those with standalone broadband subscriptions are ineligible. This causes many people to sign up for services they do not want or need just to get access to a service they do need.
Fully 97 percent of Anoka County in the Minneapolis metro area has high-speed Internet access whereas less than 1 percent of homes farther north, in Aitkin County, have similar broadband access. Thus, the “digital divide.”
Klobuchar has two other measures that will help close the “digital divide.” She is leading a bipartisan bill to reduce the costs of building broadband infrastructure – for example, requiring states and federal agencies to coordinate highway construction with broadband installation when the highway is being built or redone. Another bill Klobuchar is pushing is one that would provide incentives for wireless carriers to lease unused spectrum to rural or smaller carriers in order to expand wireless coverage to rural areas.
Just one of the examples noted by Klobuchar is the Essentia clinics in Virginia and Aurora, which can now connect patients with health services via the Internet so instead of spending time and expense traveling long distances, patients can connect with medical experts, virtually in face-to-face meetings, on the Internet.
Klobuchar, as always, has done her homework and knows how to roll up her sleeves to get things done. We in Minnesota should be proud of her. She’s a great example of how good things can actually be achieved in Washington, D.C. when elected people actually get to work instead of spending all their time whining, posturing, grand-standing, mud-slinging and playing dirty politics.
Three cheers for Klobuchar; three cheers for her helping narrow the “digital divide.”
