One issue that is uniting Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill, the Obama Administration, and the technology industry is the need to expand high-speed Internet access nationwide, especially for rural and other underserved communities. According to a Brookings Institution study, 75.1 percent of American households had a broadband Internet subscription in 2014; however, there remains “enormous variation in U.S. digital connectivity across demographic groups and between metropolitan areas.”

In September 2015, the White House released a report by the Administration’s Broadband Opportunity Council, created last March to develop a broadband expansion strategy. The report contained recommendations for both expanding broadband deployment and adoption and improving quality and service. Congress is now considering legislation that aligns closely with those recommendations.

The proposal that appears to have the most momentum is so-called “dig once” legislation that would encourage States to install broadband conduits at the same time federally funded highway construction projects are underway. The proposal follows a 2012 Executive order requiring Federal agencies to ensure that broadband and infrastructure projects coincide whenever possible. The Federal Highway Administration estimates that 90 percent

of the cost of deploying broadband consists of digging up and replacing the road.

“Dig once” bills now pending in Congress are S. 2163, the Streamlining and Investing in Broadband Infrastructure Act, introduced by Senator Amy Klobuchar (MN-D), and H.R. 3805, the Broadband Conduit Deployment Act, introduced by Representative Anna Eshoo (CA-D).

The Senate Commerce Committee is also considering draft legislation that would expand the Nation’s wireless capacity by freeing up more underused radio spectrum assigned to Federal agencies. The recent budget deal required the Federal Communications Commission to auction to the private sector by 30 megahertz of airwaves used by U.S. agencies by 2024. The new legislation would raise that amount to 50 megahertz. The bill has been stalled because of security concerns, however, with lawmakers working to reconcile the needs of consumers with those of intelligence and national security agencies.

For more background on this issue, see the April 2013 issue of Congressional Digest on “Broadband Expansion.”