Congresswoman Claudia Tenney Pushes for Rural Broadband Expansion in New York
Washington, D.C. - Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (NY-22) testified today in support of expanding access to rural broadband during a Member Day hearing for the House Appropriations Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Subcommittee. Tenney highlighted the challenges New Yorkers face as a result of Spectrum's monopoly in upstate New York. She also urged the Subcommittee to support a funding request to expand access to reliable, affordable internet access in the Village of Sherburne.
"Thank you. I want to thank the Chairman and Ranking Member Fortenberry and the distinguished members of this Subcommittee for giving Members the opportunity to share their priorities with you today. This is a really important issue that I am going to bring up.
I am honored to represent New York’s 22nd Congressional District, which is largely rural, stretching from Lake Ontario in the North all the way to the Pennsylvania border in the South. Over the past decade as our economy has rapidly gone digital, communities like mine have been left behind. One of the largest issues my constituents face is the lack of reliable, affordable access to the Internet.
In today’s world, your internet connection can determine your destiny. It shapes your access to education, healthcare, and employment opportunities. The COVID-19 pandemic has only driven this point home. Education, work, and healthcare is all online. Those who lack the bandwidth, lack the access.
To make matters even worse, Upstate New York is subject to a broadbandmonopoly. Sadly, New York State political officials agreed to a cable consolidation plan under an agreement with Spectrum Communications, which they claimed would expand and improve service.
However, the State and New York Public Service Commission have absolutely failed to enforce this agreement to expand into rural communities like mine. This has left too many rural customers in my district with nonexistent broadbandservice, or service that is far too expensive or far too weak to have effective communication.
This is the reason I support a community funding project that was presented to me by the Village of Sherburne in New York. This project would greatly expand high quality internet to residents, providing larger bandwidths to a local school and healthcare facility in the district as well as allowing businesses and residents to access significantly faster service. This is going to open my community to greater opportunity. In addition, the new network will allow customers to access multiple Internet Service Providers, giving them greater options at lower costs, and our seniors are very excited about this.
As we move forward with the USDA’s ReConnect program, it is essential that we continue to support these types of projects while also making reforms to ensure the program is meeting the changing needs of communities. To this extent, I encourage this Subcommittee to review the definition of minimum internet service and determine if the definition still meets current needs. In the last decade, technology has transformed and current scheduled increase of the minimum download speed to 25 megabits per second simply is not high enough to meet the demands of many communities. In fact, most of my community is at less than 10 megabits per second.
Higher standards for schools, healthcare facilities, and libraries are also essential. Imagine your child not being able to stream an educational video or your doctor not having enough internet service or accessibility to adequately research a condition or provide telehealth services to so many of our seniors. It is also important that new expansions are able to host multiple Internet Service Providers, so rural customers are given real choice to participate in a robust market, and not locked into an expensive monopoly like many of residents in my district.
Transparency and accountability were two critical factors that drove my support of this project. I am committed to ensuring my federal funding brought back to our region is spent transparently and responsibly. As with any federal program, Community Project Funds must adhere to the high standards and I will hold my community beneficiaries accountable. This project I am supporting today was rigorously reviewed, including extensive consultations with a variety of stakeholders. It has strong buy-in from the community as well as a clearly demonstrated benefit to my district.
As many of you likely know, New York State taxpayers pay more to the federal treasury than the state receives in return. I will always advocate on behalf of my community and fight to return tax dollars to New York. Thank you again Mr. Chairman and this subcommittee for giving us this opportunity to present our request."
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