PBS News Hour

AMNA NAWAZ: President Biden is kicking off efforts to expand high-speed Internet access to the 8.5 million homes and businesses without it.

Expanding affordable broadband access was a key component of his 2021 infrastructure bill.

At the White House today, the president pledged a $42 billion investment to get Americans up to speed by 2030.

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: It's the biggest investment in high-speed Internet ever, because for today's economy to work for everyone, Internet access is just as important as electricity was or water or other basic services.

High-speed Internet isn't a luxury anymore.

It's become an absolute necessity.

AMNA NAWAZ: And Laura Barron-Lopez has more on what all of this means.

Laura, good to see you.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Good to be here.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, this is ambitious, to say the least, right?

The president equated it to electrifying the entire country in the 1930s.

Who will this expanded broadband reach?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So today marks the official allocation of this money that comes from the bipartisan infrastructure law.

And the funds are going to go essentially all across the country.

So they're going to go to every state, District of Columbia, all the territories, but 19 states, in particular, are going to receive more than $1 billion to increase their broadband.

And within those 19 states, I just want to highlight a few.

Missouri is going to get more than $1.7 billion, California more than $1.8 billion.

And Texas is going to receive the most at about $3.3 -- more than 3.3 billion.

This is all based on local needs.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, the president says the goal is that every house has access by 2030.

Will they actually reach that goal?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So, give or take, essentially, Amna.

Essentially, the White House provided reporters with a rough timeline.

Now, a lot of things can get in the way of a timeline.

But starting now, in June of 2023, this month, allocations are announced.

States begin drafting their plans for projects.

Then, December of 2023, the first state plans are due.

And 20 percent of the funds are going to start being distributed.Then, around spring of 2024, work is going to begin on some of the projects if they have received approval.

Then, spring of 2025, final plans are due for states that haven't had their plans approved yet and the remaining funds will be sent out.

And as you can see, some of these projects are not going to get going and certainly not finished before the 2024 election.

AMNA NAWAZ: Well, when you talk about the millions of Americans who still don't have this kind of broadband access, who are we talking about?

What are these communities like?

And how does the administration make sure that people who need this service get it?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So, I spoke to Nicol Turner Lee at the Brookings Institution, and she told me that the federal estimate of about 7 percent of Americans receiving -- not receiving broadband access is probably an undercount.

NICOL TURNER LEE, Brookings Institution: The pandemic demonstrated that it's a lot of people.

And it's not so much people that we suspected, the poor, people who live in tribal communities, people who are older, people who are foreign-born, people in rural America, but it also extended to people that we didn't even realize, people on the exurban side, people in suburban America who couldn't get online with their kids to actually learn, or teachers who couldn't teach because they lived in areas where they didn't have broadband or couldn't afford it.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: And so Nicol Turner Lee added that, when it comes to making sure that this reaches those people who don't have access at all, the ones that are the most in need of broadband access, that it really is going to come down to the administration and accountability, and then scrutinizing and interrogating those state plans.

AMNA NAWAZ: So we know that this was a critical part of that 2021 infrastructure plan, President Biden's vision behind that.

What about his reelection campaign?

Where does this fit into that?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: It's definitely important to the reelect, Amna, because, even though the White House and those on the president's campaign believe that the GOP attacks on LGBTQ rights and on abortion are going to be big Democratic motivators, they also know that there is an enthusiasm gap for the president, and that the way to address that, particularly on his handling of the economy, is to be out there talking about this, showing that some things are getting done.

So, making more progress towards actual shovels in the ground on these projects and blanketing the country with Cabinet officials, as well as himself, is going to be key to that.

AMNA NAWAZ: All right, Laura Barron-Lopez, our White House correspondent.

Thanks, Laura.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Thank you.