Source: WRAL
President Joe Biden made a stop in North Carolina last week, where he unveiled investments towards expanding high-speed internet access to an additional 16,000 households and businesses.
“High-speed internet isn’t a luxury anymore. It’s an absolute necessity,” stated President Biden. “The investment in high-speed internet means something else as well: good-paying jobs.”
According to AP, The administration is committing a total of $3 billion to build and fund internet connections in the state. By the end of 2026, the administration estimates that an additional 300,000 North Carolinians will be able to access the internet.
Initiatives, such as the Biden-Harris Administration’s Affordable Connectivity Program, will help more than 885,000 households in North Carolina save money on their internet bills every month.
“What we’re doing here in North Carolina is one piece of a much bigger story,” stated President Biden. Biden stated he was keeping his promise “to be a president for all America, whether you voted for me or not.”
For 2024, Biden’s campaign has made North Carolina a top priority, as Democrats narrowly lost the state in 2020 by 1.34 percentage points to Trump, according to the AP.
“We expect North Carolina to be extremely competitive,” Quentin Fulks, deputy principal campaign manager for President Biden, told The Messenger. “That’s why we have invested early – both in paid and in our infrastructure – and are running an aggressive operation that builds on years of significant investments in the state.”
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, a member of Biden’s national advisory board, underscored his support for the president, stating, “I want a president who wakes up every morning thinking about the American people instead of a president who wakes up every morning thinking about himself”.
President Biden’s visit comes a week after Vice President Kamala Harris visited Charlotte’s Eastway Middle School, announcing that North Carolina will receive funding from the federal government to hire and train 332 mental health counselors in schools statewide.
The crucial investments are part of the White House‘s efforts to bring more than 14,000 mental health professionals into schools across the country.
