Dec 14, 2024 By Brad Hundt 4 min read

SCENERY HILL – U.S. Sen. Bob Casey remembers the moment when the importance of high-speed internet really hit home for him.

He was on a conference call with elected officials from Southwestern Pennsylvania in 2016, and one of them loudly said, “Senator, kids can’t do their homework!”

“In one moment it all made sense to me,” Casey said at Scenery Hill’s Century Inn Friday morning. “If a child can’t do their homework, it’s really hard for that child. It’s really hard for that family. It’s really hard for the classroom that she’s in, and the school that she’s in.”

He continued, “But it’s really hard for the rest of us. If she can’t do her homework, she can’t learn. If she can’t learn, we can’t outcompete China. If she can’t learn, we can’t have the GDP we want. We’re not going to have the economic growth we want.”

Casey’s stop at the Century Inn to talk up federal investment in high-speed internet was something of a valedictory moment for the Democrat, who will be leaving the Senate at the beginning of January following his defeat in November by Republican David McCormick. Casey lost his bid for a fourth term in the Senate by two-tenths of a percent, or about 16,000 votes, out of almost 7 million cast. Casey pointed out that the federal funds for high-speed internet in Washington County and elsewhere were part of the $1.3 trillion American Rescue Plan that was signed by President Joe Biden in March 2021, and was designed to kickstart the economy following the deep recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The senator pointed out that in the Senate, the bill passed by one vote, with Vice President Kamala Harris acting as a tiebreaker. Washington County’s wide-ranging plan to expand high-speed internet throughout the county is being paid for through a mix of public and private dollars, totaling about $80 million, and will provide the service to about 9,000 residents and businesses who are either underserved or unserved. Casey remarked that in order to have projects like this work, “You’ve got to have the public part of it,” and worried that the incoming Trump administration and Republican-majority Congress will not make similar partnerships a priority.

“I’m damn proud I cast the right vote in March 2021 for a hundred different reasons, but in particular so we could fund investment in high-speed internet in a real way,” Casey said.

James Dudt, a supervisor in North Bethlehem Township, said the township is still being served by the same copper phone line that was laid in the 1950s, and that the broadband expansion will change things for his community and the county “in ways that were unimaginable even five or six years ago.”

While the focus of the event at Century Inn was on high-speed internet, Casey also noted other organizations and projects in Washington County that received funding through the American Rescue Plan, including Centerville Clinics, Freedom Transit, the Cecil Township Municipal Authority and Washington Hospital’s behavioral health program.

With the clock ticking down on his time as a senator, Casey said he didn’t have any specific plans yet for his life outside the U.S. Senate, but hoped to continue advocating for issues that are important to him. He also hopes to take a break in January.

And though the decisions on them “will be in the hands of others,” Casey said he has some concerns about some of the nominees for Cabinet posts in the second Trump administration.

“I hope the Senate will not surrender its duty to advise and consent,” he explained.