In a visit to Minnesota and Wisconsin Thursday, President Biden mainly highlighted investments in infrastructure, but also remarked on a few other funding ventures from his administration.
One of the projects he mentioned was a $42.45 billion grant program to expand internet access across the U.S.
“In Wisconsin and Minnesota, we’re investing $2.5 billion in high-speed internet,” said the President in a speech at Earth Rider Brewery in Superior, Wisconsin, “We’re gonna save over 600,000 families in these states up to $30 a month on their internet bills.”
The administration’s investment, announced in June 2023, came on the heels of a historic broadband announcement in the state of Minnesota.
“[We passed] The largest broadband bill that has ever been passed in the state of Minnesota, $100 million of funding for broadband across the state,” said Representative Kristi Pursell (DFL – Northfield), who worked on the bill in the state House of Representatives. …
“We wanted to make sure that we could maximize the money that we can get from D.C. to serve the people here in Minnesota,” she said. “The investment that we’re making as a state then helps unlock those federal funds.”
Minnesota has bookmarked 2026 as their deadline to provide internet access to every corner of the state.
Pursell believes we can expect more investments in the future.
“We need to continue to invest in this program. And we need to do that until every Minnesotan is connected,” she said, “we know $100 million, is not going to do it, so I hope that this continues probably every budget year.”
Minnesota’s broadband budget is set at the start of each two-year biennium, which means we likely won’t see another round of funding until 2025.
I took note of two things:
- Great pride in making broadband affordable, which I hope means funding a way to keep the Affordable Connectivity Program going.
- Rep Pursell seemed to foresee a need for more funding but recognized that it won’t come up until 2025.