Biden says rural electrification and internet improvements underscore 'American comeback'

WESTBY, Wisconsin (AP) — President Joe Biden traveled to rural southwest Wisconsin on Thursday to champion new investments in electrification and expanded high-speed internet, proclaiming that “all these investments mean family farms can stay in the family.”

In the town of Westby, Biden announced $7.3 billion in investments for 16 cooperatives that will provide electricity for millions of families in rural areas across 23 states, with the goal of lowering the cost of badly needed electricity connections in hard-to-reach areas.

Funding for the project comes from the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law in August 2022 and passed in Congress along party lines. The law invests roughly $13 billion in rural electrification across multiple programs and will create 4,500 permanent jobs and 16,000 construction jobs, according to the White House, which called the effort the largest investment in rural electrification since the New Deal in the 1930s.

Biden also championed 2021's infrastructure law, which was approved with some support from congressional Republicans and which he said had provided 72,000 additional Wisconsin homes and small businesses with high-speed internet.