Rural broadband

Representative Greg Walden (R-Hood River), Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, held a hearing with the Federal Communications Commission Chairman to examine solutions to expand broadband to underserved areas. During the hearing, Walden highlighted the positive impact broadband expansion can have on rural communities.

"I want to thank you for coming out to my district last month," said Walden to Chairman Pai. "We traveled around and saw a health clinic and what telehealth means. I want to thank the Commission for the decision to lift the cap on the rural health telemedicine piece. That made a huge and positive difference for our rural clinics when you added $171 million over the $400 million cap.  You heard it firsthand when you were out there meeting with the clinic. And I appreciated the discussion we had with the broadcasters and the small ISPs. I think you got a taste for how large the 7th largest Congressional district is, even though we never got out of one county."