Obama to Fund Broadband Expansion

In a Friday morning press conference, President Barack Obama announced plans to use money from the 2009 Economic Stimulus Act to fund projects to spread broadband access. The project will cost a total of $795 million, some of which will go to funding nearly 5,000 jobs to complete the project. Another estimated $200 million will be generated by private investments.

Money from the project will also go to fund public computer centers in places such as libraries and colleges where citizens can access the internet. For many citizens in rural or poor communities, these public computing centers are the only way to access the internet.

While speaking on the subject, President Obama proudly declared, "Broadband can remove geographic barriers between patients and their doctors... It can connect our kids to the digital skills the 21st-century education requires for the jobs of the future, and it can prepare America to run on clean energy by helping us upgrade to a smarter, stronger, more secure electrical grid."

All 50 states will benefit from this project, with over 685,000 businesses, 900 health care facilities and 2,400 schools specifically benefiting from new internet access. All of these facilities will be put on a level playing field with other businesses of the 21st century, and can expect economic growth as a result.