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Senator Joni Ernst (R) remarked on the importance of improving broadband infrastructure in rural areas during a visit to Powell Funeral Home in Keota last Friday.

Ernst tells KCII a bipartisan infrastructure bill the Senate is working on includes additional funds for expanding broadband that will go to the states for rural connectivity. Ernst comments on how the pandemic emphasized the importance of broadband access, “What you’ve seen through COVID is a lot more use when it comes to telehealth, when it comes to virtual schooling, working from home. The need was just really exacerbated during the pandemic so the federal government has invested billions of dollars in this effort to expand rural broadband and connectivity.”

The bipartisan deal led by President Joe Biden is a $1.2 trillion package for which a vote to start debate was blocked in the Senate last week on a vote of 49-51. The Kalona Cooperative Technology Company most recently received a $229,000 Empower Rural Iowa broadband grant this spring and they received about $2 million last December to fund a 5-year project to connect over 300 households to a future-proof fiber network.