Bipartisan PLAN Act Reintroduced in House

WASHINGTON, April 11, 2025 – Congressmen from both sides of the political aisle have gotten together to reintroduce legislation designed to help the government close the digital divide. 

Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., together with Rep. Scott Peters, D-Calif., reintroduced the Proper Leadership to Align Networks (PLAN) for Broadband Act to the House on Wednesday with the goal of developing a national strategy for closing the nation’s digital divide. 

"In today's digital age, having access to reliable broadband service is integral to our economy, education, and most aspects of our daily lives,” Walberg said. “We must develop a roadmap to improve the efficiency and coordination of federal broadband programs so that we can streamline efforts and accelerate the deployment of broadband.”

The PLAN Act cleared the Senate Commerce Committee on March 12, 2025, before its reintroduction in the House.

The new PLAN Act would require the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration to develop a national broadband strategy designed to close the digital divide as well as a plan to execute its strategy.

The original PLAN Act legislation was titled the NTIA Reauthorization Act and passed through the House on May 16, 2024, before being referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and placed on the Senate legislative calendar, where it received no further action.

The PLAN Act was reintroduced following a Government Accountability Office report in 2022 finding that efforts to close America’s digital divide often overlap and are fragmented between more than 100 federal broadband programs split between 15 agencies. 

The report asserted that a synchronized federal effort to close the digital divide could bring broadband to more people with more efficiency.