{"id":131068,"date":"2025-09-04T01:31:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T01:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/131068\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T01:31:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T01:31:13","slug":"riley-backs-bipartisan-bill-to-boost-rural-broadband","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/131068\/","title":{"rendered":"Riley backs bipartisan bill to boost rural broadband"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Congressman Josh Riley is pushing to close the digital divide in rural America with a new bipartisan bill aimed at expanding access to high-speed internet.<\/p>\n<p>Riley announced Tuesday he\u2019s sponsoring the ReConnecting Rural America Act of 2025, which would provide $650 million a year in grants and loans for broadband projects in underserved areas.<\/p>\n<p>Fast, affordable internet for rural towns<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHigh-speed internet is no longer a luxury \u2014 it\u2019s a necessity,\u201d Riley said. \u201cIn too many rural towns, broadband is still unreliable or unaffordable. This bill makes sure Upstate New York can compete and thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The bill updates the Rural Electrification Act of 1936, permanently establishing the ReConnect program to fund broadband construction and upgrades in rural areas.<\/p>\n<p>Key features of the legislation include:<\/p>\n<p>Faster speeds: Requires federally funded networks to deliver at least 100 Mbps upload and download speeds.Targeted support: Prioritizes areas where at least 75% of homes lack broadband, with added help for small towns, Tribal nations, and persistent poverty communities.Support for farmers: Expands access on cropland and ranchland to boost precision agriculture tools.Good jobs: Ensures broadband construction projects pay workers prevailing wages.Part of a bigger push for rural infrastructure<\/p>\n<p>The ReConnecting Rural America Act builds on Riley\u2019s other rural initiatives:<\/p>\n<p>In August, he co-sponsored the Middle Mile for Rural America Act to reduce broadband costs and speed up deployment.In July, he co-led the ARRIP Act, unlocking $275 million annually to fix rural roads and bridges.Also in August, he co-sponsored the Rural Hospital Stabilization Act to deliver $500 million in emergency funding to struggling rural hospitals.<\/p>\n<p>The broadband bill, introduced in April, has support from both sides of the aisle and is currently in committee review.<\/p>\n<p>Get the latest headlines delivered to your inbox each morning.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fingerlakes1.com\/newsletter\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Sign up for our Morning Edition (Opens New Tab)\" aria-label=\"Sign up for our Morning Edition (Opens New Tab)\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Sign up for our Morning Edition to start your day<\/a>. FL1 on the Go! Download the free FingerLakes1.com App for <a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/app\/fingerlakes1-com\/id919463351?mt=8\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">iOS (iPhone, iPad)<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fingerlakes1.com\/author\/newsroom\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/FL1-01-LOGO-2022-V01-250x250-newer.png\" width=\"90\" height=\"90\" alt=\"\" itemprop=\"image\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>FingerLakes1.com is the region\u2019s leading all-digital news publication. The company was founded in 1998 and has been keeping residents informed for more than two decades. Have a lead? Send it to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fingerlakes1.com\/cdn-cgi\/l\/email-protection\" class=\"__cf_email__\" data-cfemail=\"610f0416122107080f0604130d000a0412504f020e0c\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">[email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Congressman Josh Riley is pushing to close the digital divide in rural America with a new bipartisan bill&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131069,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[174,74],"class_list":{"0":"post-131068","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-internet","8":"tag-internet","9":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}