OPINION:
Rural America is a special and unique place, filled by a collection of small towns united by their desire for freedom and determination to take care of one another. No state in our union displays this better than my state of West Virginia, which I am honored to serve and fight for in the U.S. Senate.
West Virginia is the only state in America entirely encompassed by Appalachia and is recognized around the world for the kindness of our people, the strength of our communities, the trust we place in one another, and the beauty of our mountains. Our natural landscape and features have even inspired a song you might know, and we proudly wear the moniker of, “Almost Heaven.”
That is what rural America is all about, but it is not without challenges specific to our region.
Our mountains create a difficult set of challenges when it comes to deploying the infrastructure needed to connect every small town and community across our state to fast and reliable broadband internet. Reliable broadband is something that impacts nearly all aspects of our daily lives, but connectivity in rural America has lagged behind that of more densely populated, urban areas. This makes it more difficult for West Virginians to communicate with our family and friends, to access emergency services, to educate our children, and to help small businesses succeed.
Since coming to the Senate in 2015, I have made it a priority to improve connectivity in West Virginia, which led to the creation of my Capito Connect initiative. Since launching Capito Connect, incredible progress has been made when it comes to connectivity in our state. Through the program, I’ve been able to work with partners across private and public sectors to secure billions in federal resources and create a platform for conversations about connectivity issues and the urgent need for reliable broadband access.
Alongside the people of my state, I have been honest and transparent about these challenges and what it will take to fix them. Now, our internet providers need to keep up their end of the bargain.
To increase accountability, I introduced the Rural Broadband Protection Act (RBPA) in 2022, helped move it through passage at the federal level, and I was proud to see President Donald Trump sign this legislation into law last month.
RBPA will require a more thorough vetting and verification process for internet service providers seeking to participate in the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) high-cost programs. This law will provide essential safeguards to the Universal Service Fund’s High-Cost program by ensuring funding goes to companies with both a proven track record of success and those that have demonstrated sound judgment in deploying to hard-to-serve areas.
Time and time again, internet service providers have come to West Virginia and promised a fix to our connectivity issues using federal resources we’ve fought to secure. Too often, these assurances have failed to materialize, leaving us in the same position we started in while wasting taxpayer dollars and time.
RBPA aims to fix this by expanding on my previous broadband efforts and is a product of many discussions I’ve had with small rural service providers and West Virginians on the ground. These discussions made it increasingly clear that the FCC needs direction from Congress to ensure taxpayer dollars are being used properly and efficiently to fund broadband deployment in rural areas that need this service the most.
By verifying that providers can actually deliver on the commitments made to bring high-speed internet to rural areas, we can maximize the influx of broadband dollars coming to West Virginia and move toward our goal of closing the digital divide in communities of all sizes across our state.
West Virginians keep their word, and it’s time internet service providers do the same.
• U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.V., is a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation, and also serves on the Appropriations, Environment & Public Works (EPW) as chairman, and Rules Committees. Capito also serves as the chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee (RPC), the fourth ranking Republican in the U.S. Senate.
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