It was good to learn Minnesota U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar was honored just recently by the Rural Broadband Association for her leadership in expanding affordable broadband access.
Klobuchar is co-chair of the bipartisan congressional Broadband Caucus.
For years, she has worked tirelessly for high-speed internet access. She drafted the “Accessible, Affordable Infrastructure Law,” and she succeeded in obtaining federal funds to help expand broadband access throughout rural areas of Minnesota where so many people did not have internet access. Increasingly through the years, internet access has become a necessity, not a luxury.
The award was presented to Klobuchar during the Rural Broadband Association Breakfast.
This is what she said upon receiving the award:
“It’s an honor to be recognized by the NTCA (National Telecommunications Cooperative Association) an organization committed to ensuring high-speed internet reaches rural communities across our country. Internet access is necessary for everything from education to healthcare, not to mention for keeping in touch with friends and family. However, millions of Americans currently don’t have a reliable broadband connection in their homes. That’s why I worked to secure historic funding to deliver high-speed internet to every zip code in America.”
The NTCA chief executive officer, Shirley Bloomfield, praised the senator for being a passionate advocate for broadband expansion in Minnesota and in every area of the nation. There are now more than 850 community-based broadband providers in the NTCA, thanks in huge part to Klobuchar’s efforts.
What’s remarkable about the senator’s efforts to expand broadband is how she enlisted and won the support of other lawmakers, including many Republicans.
In 2021, she and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) introduced bipartisan legislation to expand broadband access by streamlining the funding process and removing barriers in underserved rural areas.
In 2023, Klobuchar, along with Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-West Va.), led a bipartisan effort called “The Rural Broadband Protection Act.” It ensured companies that apply for federal funding can and will provide broadband expansions to under-served rural areas.
Also in 2023, she led bipartisan legislation called the “Reforming Broadband Connectivity Act” to strengthen funding for broadband access via telecommunication services.
Again in 2023, she announced the U.S. Department of Commerce had awarded major federal funding to bring affordable, high-speed internet access to every household in Minnesota. That effort was subsequently expanded across the nation.
Ever since she was elected as a U.S. senator, Klobuchar has rolled up her sleeves and led the way to getting good things done, overdue changes accomplished. Unlike all too many self-centered, grandstanding, obstructionist legislators in the U.S. Congress (Marjorie Taylor Greene, to name just one toxic example), Klobuchar is a genuine, dyed-in-the-wool public servant; she works tirelessly on behalf of Americans to make their lives better in so many ways.
Klobuchar has always been a connector – connecting people, bringing them together, and broadband expansion is the perfect metaphor for what she does: increasing communications far and wide, which helps make people’s lives more supportable and successful.
We should be happy she and Minnesota’s other senator, Tina Smith, are in the U.S. Congress. They are both working so hard all the time to make America a stronger nation and its people happier human beings.
Thus, we send a big “Thank You” to Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
