Virginia to receive $220 million in ARP Broadband Expansion funding Senator Warner’s Office announces

On Wednesday, September 1, the office of Senator Mark Warner announced that Virginia will receive just under a $220-million-dollar chunk of American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding aimed at Capital Improvement Projects, specifically in this case broadband expansion. Broadband expansion was one of the infrastructure improvement topics raised at the August 23 Infrastructure Funding Roundtable hosted by the Virginia Port Authority at the Virginia Inland Port in Northern Warren County. Virginia’s U.S. Senator Warner was the primary speaker and fielder of questions from county officials invited to the Roundtable.

Broadband expansion has been a particular concern of the Warren County Board of Supervisors as they recently elected to join a municipal effort with a broadband provider to jointly approach broadband expansion in this region of Virginia. One question Senator Warner was asked at the Roundtable was whether municipalities should move ahead with investment in needed infrastructure improvements, or wait to see what would become available to them in federal program funding. Now it would seem, at least on the broadband front pending state government decisions on prioritizing regional needs, local governments may know sooner, rather than later about their potential cut of this piece of federal COVID recovery funding pie.

Below is Senator Warner’s Office’s release and his comments, with linked materials, in its entirety:

Warren County’s contingent, seated left of Royal Examiner camera (or right in photo), were among the masked officials present for the Aug. 23 Roundtable. Below, flanked by Virginia Port Authority officials, Sen. Warner fields questions on federal funding potentials for infrastructure improvements in Virginia. Royal Examiner File Photos by Roger Bianchini

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) today applauded an announcement by the U.S. Treasury Department that Virginia is eligible to receive $219,812,354 from the American Rescue Plan to support broadband expansion in the Commonwealth. The funding is the result of a $10 billion investment Sen. Warner secured in the American Rescue Plan that will help states, territories and tribal governments carry out critical capital projects to enable telework, online education, and tele-health in connection with COVID-19. State governments will also be permitted to use funds to increase broadband efficiency and reduce the costs of providing broadband services.

“Broadband is to the 21^st century what electrification was to the 20^th. The COVID-19 crisis exposed that far too many Americans are being left behind without access to high-speed internet for work, school or telehealth. That’s why I fought to secure a record $10 billion in federal funding to expand broadband access and affordability as part of the American Rescue Plan,” said Sen. Warner. “Today the Treasury Department announced that Virginia will be eligible to receive at least $220 million of this funding in order to expand broadband to households across the Commonwealth.”

More information from the Treasury announcement today is available here.