Something interesting and newsworthy happened in Washington this week, and it didn't have anything to do with protesters. The Senate managed to pass a bipartisan infrastructure bill that folks have been speculating about for months.
The bill is around 2,700 pages, which makes "The Count of Monte Cristo" seem like light reading. And while our Senate representatives found common ground on hard infrastructure like roads and dams, there's another piece of infrastructure the pandemic has highlighted: digital bridges.
The Internet is no longer a luxury item and hasn't been for years. Folks use it to bank, file taxes, start businesses and attend school.
But the pandemic made many Arkansans realize that our digital infrastructure needs some serious attention--and expansion. When schools shut down last year because of covid-19, students were told to attend online classes for remote learning. But the problem--well, one problem--was that not every Arkansan has reliable Internet access.
Dial-up Internet isn't going to cut it, either. People--students included--need high-speed Internet. What's the solution for a child without Internet in the home when school shuts down? Go sit at McDonald's for eight hours and use the Wi-Fi?
A website called BroadbandNow.com analyzes data from the FCC and ranks states on their high-speed Internet availability. It also allows visitors to compare Internet service providers. According to the website's analytics, Arkansas ranks 41st in the nation for broadband access.
The website reports that about a quarter of Arkansans don't have access to broadband of 100mbps or faster. And even if we understood what that meant, it wouldn't sound good. High-speed Internet isn't just for watching Netflix anymore. It's necessary for Zoom calls into business meetings or virtual classrooms.
Looking at the percentage of broadband coverage across Arkansas' 75 counties, you'll find some counties are doing just fine. Benton County has 94 percent broadband coverage, and Boone County has 90 percent.
But scrolling through the list, we couldn't help but notice Calhoun County is at 9 percent.
What happens if Hampton High School shuts down this fall because of a covid-19 outbreak? It's going to be difficult--difficulties upon difficulties--if students have to work from home with 9 percent broadband coverage.
The bipartisan infrastructure bill passed by the Senate has money for broadband expansion. Here's more from the papers: "Drafted during the covid-19 crisis, the bill would provide $65 billion for broadband, a provision Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) negotiated because she said the coronavirus pandemic showed that such service 'is no longer a luxury; it is a necessity.' States will receive money to expand broadband and make it more affordable."
Senator Collins understood after watching a good chunk of the nation's economy switch to remote work how important broadband expansion in rural parts of the nation can be. And she's from Maine, so she knows from rural.
But let's not tell stories to ourselves that this thing "was paid for"--because it wasn't. We can at least be honest enough to say that much of the bill will be passed off to our children and grandchildren. Just as much of Congress' work has been done this year, and in the past decade or so.
Even the wire reports, not the opinion section, said the bill included "potential budgetary gimmicks." But last week the Congressional Budget Office--the non-partisan referees on what things actually cost in Washington--said the legislation would add $256 billion to the deficit over the next 10 years.
That hardly registered. When our elected representatives in Washington are talking about spending a trillion here, $3.5 trillion there, a quarter of a trillion doesn't seem to raise many eyebrows. Excepting the two senators from Arkansas, who voted no.
It's likely this legislation will pass the United States House of Representatives. In which case the country will go on to the next spending bill--the $3.5 trillion "social policy budget," as it's being called. It won't be near as bipartisan as the infrastructure bill. And although we expect the referees to throw a bunch of flags on that bill, too, we're not sure if any penalty will hold up upon review.