During the month of April, Biden administration officials will travel to dozens of rural communities as part of the “Building A Better America” rural infrastructure tour to talk about the impact of Bipartisan Infrastructure Law investments, as well as the President’s broader commitment to ensure federal resources reach all communities in rural America. The tour started off in Colorado on Monday and President Biden plans to speak from an Iowan ethanol plant on Tuesday, April 12 with reports indicating he may have an announcement on E15 year-round use.

While speaking remotely with media Monday morning, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack joined Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Senior Adviser and Infrastructure Coordinator Mitch Landrieu to discuss the investments in rural communities in the infrastructure law passed five months ago. Over the month of April, the administration plans to make over $2 billion of rural infrastructure funding announcements in over 30 communities.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law delivers on the promises to provide high-speed internet, safe roads and bridges, modern wastewater systems, clean drinking water, reliable and affordable electricity and good-paying jobs to every community. The bill also makes almost $1 billion in conservation investments. Vilsack says all of the investments made in the bill are the “most significant investments in rural people and places probably since the Depression.”

While Americans living in rural areas account for 19% of the population, they comprise nearly half of all roadway fatalities. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will deliver safer roads, bridges and railway crossings for rural Americans. Vilsack adds that the bridge that may get repaired could be the difference in a life with a traveling EMT now able to get to someone faster.

Vilsack adds the tour offers an opportunity to highlight the importance of the bipartisan infrastructure bill and “sends a very strong message to rural Americans that they’re not being left out of this historic bill. In fact, investments are being made to reflect the value and importance of rural places and people.”

Rural playbook launched

As part of the launch on Monday, the White House released a Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Rural Playbook to help state, local, Tribal and territorial governments in rural areas unlock the benefits from the historic investments in our nation’s infrastructure and launched a rural infrastructure tour led by President Joe Biden and other senior administration officials to engage rural communities across the country.

Landrieu says the playbook breaks down specific rural-focused opportunities among the 375 programs in the law, making it easier for communities to plan and compete for federal resources. “There are $14.6 billion in rural specific programs under the bipartisan infrastructure law, not including the tens of billions of new dollars set aside for rural communities under [the Department of Transportation’s] largest programs like the surface transportation block grant program,” Landrieu says.

Vilsack adds that the playbook is a tool that is going to allow the government to make sure people are aware of these investments and other steps that the administration is going to take to make sure that rural America takes full and complete advantage of this historic opportunity.

High-speed internet investment

More than 35% of rural Americans and Tribal communities lack wired access to broadband at acceptable speeds. 

Landrieu notes that the bill includes $65 billion to accomplish the vision of having 100% coverage to every American with high-speed internet. He adds that efforts by the Federal Communications Commission are “speeding at full force” to provide updated maps on where areas are underserved and unserved. USDA also has a targeted $2 billion for expanding rural broadband.

Not only is high-speed internet important for farmers using precision agriculture, Vilsack adds it allows rural hospitals to be able to provide a full array of telemedicine services, “including mental health and substance abuse services that are so vital and so needed, given the opioid epidemic that we still deal with, especially in rural places.”

“That’s the beauty of this bipartisan infrastructure bill because it provides the Department of Agriculture additional resources to address that issue,” Vilsack says of those areas that don’t have the download and upload speeds necessary. USDA has already put out a request for applications for the $1.5 billion in funding and over 305 applications requesting $4.8 billion came in.

“There is a tremendous opportunity for us not only to map and be able to handle the unserved areas and to get them to a minimum level of high speed, but to actually increase those levels to the point where it’s meaningful,” Vilsack says. “The goal isn’t just to have internet. The goal is to have high-speed internet. And the beauty of this is that we now have sufficient resources for the first time ever to really address this in a significant way.”