Grange pleased Senate committee will hold hearing on Broadband

The National Grange is proud to support Chairman Roger Wicker and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell of the Senate Commerce Committee for holding the hearing on “The State of Broadband Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic.”

As America’s oldest rural and agriculture advocacy organization, we applaud Congress for addressing the health and educational disparities in our country and working on universal broadband solutions to finally close America’s digital divide.

This crisis has increased calls for medical innovation and increased broadband connectivity to ensure Americans come out of this pandemic with access to new telehealth and online educational tools as soon as possible. Both longer term solutions and immediate short term solutions such as community hot spots must be deployed.

We look forward to a meaningful discussion and appreciate the Committee’s leadership on this important issue.