Remarks of April McClain-Delaney: Building America’s Internet Infrastructure in America

[The National Telecommunications and Information Administration] just announced the amounts each state and territory will receive from the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program. That includes $813 million for Tennessee to build future-proof networks to connect everyone in the state. Our task is simple, but it’s monumental: we are going to bridge the digital divide. For good. But we cannot reach that goal without industry stepping up. That’s where manufacturers like Prysmian come in. Internet for All is not just a connectivity program – it's a jobs and manufacturing program. We’re spending billions of federal dollars in this program. We believe if the infrastructure can be made in America, it should be made in America. Fiber optic cable is a good example of that. In his State of the Union address, the President specifically called for using American-made fiber optic cable for these broadband infrastructure projects. We’ve seen industry respond by stepping up with new investments and expansions of manufacturing capacities, like the one we are celebrating here. Prysmian has not only answered that call, you trained a workforce to do it. This company is an example of what we’d like to see other manufacturers do across the country. More companies need to follow Prysmian’s lead and invest in training women for these jobs. The jobs our infrastructure funding creates should reflect the communities we will connect. That includes groups that have been traditionally underrepresented in broadband jobs – women and people of color.