Former Trump appointee Chad Rupe, who served as head of the Rural Utilities Service including its ReConnect broadband deployment program, has endorsed Gigi Sohn for the open Democratic seat on the FCC.

Sohn, currently a senior fellow at the Benton Institute is a longtime public advocate and former top FCC adviser.

Sohn has gotten pushback from some Republicans for past stands and her nomination has yet to get a full vote in the Senate, a vote that will first require the nomination be discharged from the Senate commerce Committee since a vote there on referring her nomination favorably to the Senate ended in a tie.

In an op ed Monday (March 28) in the rural-focused Daily Yonder, Rupe said Sohn's confirmation by the Senate should happen without delay.

"There is no doubt that Sohn is dedicated to ensuring that everyone in rural America is connected," saying she had helped develop the $14 billion Affordability Connectivity Program and the $65 billion Biden infrastructure bill.

He said that some have suggested she was not supportive or rural broadband, but that that "nothing could be further from the truth." Instead, he said, she has been critical of the FCC for not making sure past investments served rural communities' long-term needs.

He said to make sure the $65 billion investment in broadband goes to help close the digital divide, "we need government officials like Gigi Sohn." ■

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service (RUS) is making $550 million available for deploying high-speed broadband in rural areas. 

The application window for this, the second round of broadband subsidies in the USDA's ReConnect program, opens Jan. 31. 

Related: Sanders Unveils High-Speed Net for All 

“Our core mission at USDA is to increase rural prosperity through boosting economic opportunity in rural America," said USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue. "We know that rural communities need robust, modern infrastructure to thrive, and that includes having access to broadband e-Connectivity. Under the leadership of President Trump and in cooperation with Congressional appropriators, USDA is proud to partner with rural communities to deploy this critical infrastructure, because we know when rural America thrives, all of America thrives.” 

The money will be offered in three tranches: grants, low-interest loans and a 50/50 combination of grants and loans. 

In March 2018, Congress allocated $600 million to USDA to expand rural broadband infrastructure. 

Allocating money for rural broadband and precision agriculture is a big issue in Washington these days, including prompting legislators to call for using the money from a C-Band midband auction for rural rollouts rather than paying satellite operators to give up that spectrum.