Credit: WMDT

SALISBURY, Md – US Representative for Maryland’s 6th Congressional District David Trone is highlighting federal funds being used to expand broadband access in rural communities across the US, as he launches his campaign to secure the seat being vacated by US Senator Ben Cardin.

In a meeting in Salisbury, Rep. Trone spoke on the need for the Department of Commerce, and his role on the appropriations committee in the US House to secure 65 billion dollars in federal funds to create rural broadband infrastructure, something he says is desperately needed in his district in Western Maryland and on the Eastern Shore.

“We got to bring money to rural America because my farm could never have gotten broadband, It wouldn’t have it today, but this is the type of thing that’s going to get it to us,” Trone said adding he believes the major hangup for the project will be implementation time and a lack of good information on where coverage gaps actually fall.

“We are going to have a bid program of $42 billion as part of the Department of Commerce, but first we’ll get the FCC maps right. If you don’t get your FCC maps directly, people will not know there’s a need and it won’t get fixed,” Trone said adding “A lot of the FCC maps are terrible, because often they say, we have broadband here, well, it’s just one person and nobody else has it.”

Trone said he is also committed to making sure the bids are distributed among multiple companies to prevent an ISP monopoly in rural areas.

“The Department of Commerce, they’ve got to monitor this and they want to get competition. The more competition we can bring in, you know, get three eyes competing, we’re going to get better costs and that benefits everybody,” Rep. Trone said.