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Smith Presses Perdue on Rural Health, Broadband, Dairy

Published by Minnesota Ag Connection on March 1, 2019

U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.) told U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue that improvements to the dairy program and to rural health care--passed as part of last year's bipartisan Farm Bill--should be implemented as soon as possible to help get the farm and rural economy back on its feet.

On Thursday, Smith--in a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing--also pressed Sec. Perdue to prioritize broadband mapping to accurately reflect broadband availability across the nation, and work to develop a consumer challenge process.

"One issue related to rural broadband--which is a core economic issue of course all over the country and in rural Minnesota--is the basic data about where we have coverage and where we don't have coverage. I hear from a lot of people in Minnesota that the maps often look as though 'I'm covered but I don't have coverage.' So can you tell me what the USDA can do to help make sure that people aren't overlooked because of inaccuracies in these maps?" Smith asked Perdue.

Read the original article here