{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://davids.house.gov/media/press-releases/watch-davids-highlights-needed-rural-broadband-improvements-during-small", "WATCH: Davids Highlights Needed Rural Broadband Improvements During Small Business Hearing with Kansas Farmer", "2023-07-27", "2023", "2023-07", "Democrat", "House", "KS", "Sharice Davids", "D000629", "davids.house.gov", "davids", "https://davids.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Yesterday, during a U.S. House Small Business Committee hearing, Representative Sharice Davids discussed the importance of accessing high-speed internet across all Kansas communities, including in rural areas. University of Kansas researchers recently found that up to 1 million Kansans lack access to high-speed broadband, with rural areas receiving the slowest download speeds. Matt Splitter, owner of Splitter Farms in Sterling, Kansas, testified during the hearing on the broadband challenges impacting his family farm.\n\n\u201cI serve on both the Small Business Committee and the House Agriculture Committee. As you can imagine, there\u2019s a lot of overlap in the two committees, especially recognizing that in Kansas we have a lot of family farms,\u201d Davids said. \u201cWe have to absolutely be thinking about this holistically - everything from supporting our rural communities through passing the Farm Bill to addressing how the operation of a modern farm happens and the technologies that are being used. We\u2019ve seen tons of progress over the past few years to ensuring that all Kansans have access to broadband, but certainly there is still a lot more work to do.\u201d\n\n\u201cTechnology is a huge part of our operation. As we\u2019ve been sitting here today, my phone has been going crazy because we\u2019re 110 degrees and all my equipment is telling me it\u2019s too hot. So, we\u2019re communicating from the farm in central Kansas to my phone here in DC today,\u201d said Matt Splitter, Owner, Splitter Farms. \u201cWe have one person that we can access internet from, and it\u2019s not even high-speed\u2026It is tremendously important that we have access to [broadband], and not just access, reliable access.\u201d\n\nWATCH: Davids and Kansas farmer Matt Splitter speak on the need for improved access to high-speed internet in rural Kansas\n\nImage\n\nIn addition to the Small Business Committee, Davids also sits on the House Agriculture and Transportation and Infrastructure Committees where she has worked to improve access to broadband across Kansas. Previously, Davids led bipartisan legislation to help connect families and businesses in rural Kansas to the critical internet services and information they need. She has also announcedmultiple bipartisan infrastructure law investments to improve access to high-speed internet, build out Kansas\u2019 broadband infrastructure, and make high-speed internet more affordable.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T00:18:03Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://davids.house.gov/media/press-releases/watch-davids-highlights-needed-rural-broadband-improvements-during-small"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.620837090536952, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}