A recent U.S. Senate bill includes $20 million to help rural communities in St. Lawrence County and elsewhere address the opioid crisis.

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York recently announced that the Agriculture Appropriations bill that just passed the Senate includes $425 million for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Utilities Service’s broadband grant-loan pilot program.

Specifically, $20 million of this funding will be used to help rural communities address the opioid crisis, according to a joint statement from the senators.

“Much like the telephone, electricity and television, the internet has gone from a novelty, to a luxury, to a necessity. Communities across Upstate New York require it to build economic development, to learn, and even to fight the ongoing opioid scourge,” said Senator Schumer. “Even still, rural communities everywhere from the North Country to the Southern Tier lack basic sufficient capabilities, preventing them from operating effectively in the global marketplace. This federal investment will help solve that problem, by bringing high-speed internet to the rural communities that need it most. I’m proud of the role I played in securing this federal investment, and vow to see it through until it reaches the president’s desk, so that rural communities in Upstate New York have the high-speed broadband access they need.”

“Internet access has become one of our most basic necessities, yet some rural communities still don’t have access to this essential technology,” said Senator Gillibrand. “People, schools, hospitals, and businesses all rely on high-speed internet to succeed at work and have a good quality of life. Broadband technology can also provide a lifeline to communities battling the opioid crisis. I was proud to fight to make sure that this critical assistance was included in the just-passed spending bill, and I will continue to work in the Senate to make sure that our communities have the tools they need to stay connected.”

Nationally, over a third of rural Americans and 41 percent of tribal residents lack access to broadband. The newly passed spending bill provides $425 million for a USDA Rural Utilities Service (RUS) grant-loan pilot program, created in last year’s omnibus appropriations bill, which would provide much-needed investments in improving broadband service in rural and tribal areas. The new grant-loan RUS program, modeled after Gillibrand’s bipartisan B-CROP Act, encourages more high-speed broadband to be installed in high-need areas by awarding grants, in combination with current USDA loan funding, to high-need rural and tribal areas. Under the legislation, grants can cover up to 50 percent of a project’s cost, or up to 75 percent of costs in remote, high-need areas. In March, Schumer and Gillibrand announced that the Fiscal Year 2018 omnibus spending bill provided $600 million to create the new USDA pilot program. The $425 million in additional funding included in the just-passed Agriculture Appropriations bill brings total funding for this critical program to over $1 billion.

In addition, the spending package also includes $53 million for the USDA’s Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant Program, which helps rural communities improve their education and medical services through investments in better internet service and other technologies. These grants can be used to purchase equipment such as transmission facilities, audio equipment, interactive video equipment, and computer hardware, as well as technical assistance for eligible equipment, helping to expand the resources available for rural communities. Specifically, $20 million of this funding will be provided to communities that are combatting the opioid crisis.