***Click here for media resources.***
DURBIN – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Ranking Member of the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure, joined Polar Communications and several other broadband partners to highlight $122 million of fiber broadband projects granted throughout eastern North Dakota.
Red River Communications, MLGC, BEK Communications Cooperative, Halstad Telephone, Broadband Association of North Dakota, Governor Burgum’s Senior Policy Advisor, Mason Sisk, and Mustang Seed’s Regional Sales Manager, Clay Erdmann, were also in attendance.
“It was great to participate in today’s announcement of these broadband projects, which are vital to our state’s supply chain and economic success,” said Senator Cramer. “You cannot deliver food to hungry people without a good transportation system, whether it's by rail, ship, or highway. You can hardly do anything if you can't transact business without high speed, secure internet. You can’t reserve a few miles for gravel or copper and still do the kind of work in the global marketplace needed to be the most exceptional country in the world. You can’t move durum wheat to the elevator, the pasta plant, or the restaurant in New York City without an interstate highway system, and you can't sell a product to Italy from North Dakota without using the Internet. You do it with innovation, entrepreneurs, technology, and in the spirit that exists here in North Dakota.”
Background:
The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) delivered critical grants to the state of North Dakota, such as ReConnect, which provides loan and grant funding to eligible entities to deploy broadband internet service in eligible rural areas. In addition, North Dakota received $130,162,815 through the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program established in the IIJA. North Dakota will use these allocated funds to expand access for states and territories to achieve affordable, reliable high-speed internet service by 2030.
Senator Cramer is also a cosponsor of the Broadband Grant Tax Treatment Act which would ensure the money Congress appropriated for broadband improvement goes as far as possible. The bill would change the tax code to prevent broadband grants awarded through the IIJA as well as the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) from being counted as corporate income.