In many rural parts of the country, the available internet is so slow that it is unusable for modern life, making it hard for people to work from home or attend school online. By raising the minimum speed requirement, the government is making sure that taxpayer-funded projects aren't installing technology that is already obsolete.

If this becomes law, rural residents gain a baseline level of service that actually supports modern digital needs. If it doesn't pass, federal money might continue to go toward slow connections that fail to close the digital divide between rural and urban areas.