BRUNSWICK — U.S. Sens. Angus King and Shelley Moore Capito are asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture to increase broadband speed definitions for a grant program that serves rural communities.

The senators sent a letter to the USDA requesting that the agency modernize the Community Connect Grant Program with increased broadband speed and service definitions.

The USDA’s website says it provides the grants to help rural areas extend access where broadband service is the least likely to be commercially available.

King is a Maine independent and Capito is a West Virginia Republican. They say it is a “matter of fairness” that rural residents be able to utilize broadband.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, and Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, also signed the letter.


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