Advancements in the telecommunications industry have forever changed the world. Ensuring government regulations and bureaucracy are in place to help, and not hinder, those advancements has been key to my work on the Subcommittee on Communications & Technology. It is on this subcommittee that we have worked to oversee the federal agencies, such as the Federal Communications Commission, to ensure the rules and regulations they propose not only follow federal law, but that those regulations will help our country as it continues to lead the world in technological advancements.

Given the rural nature of the 16^th District, expanding access to broadband throughout our area has been at the forefront of my work in Congress. As such, creating the bipartisan Rural Broadband Caucus and serving as its co-chair has been vital in my efforts to inform my colleagues of the benefits of ensuring the last-mile infrastructure.  Doing so is critical to bringing broadband to our area, and will ultimately become vital to our country as a whole. Not only will this expansion of rural broadband help our economies, but it will also ensure that our students have the access they need to educational materials that will help them better succeed in life. Patients will benefit from the advancements in telemedicine that bring us closer to our doctors than ever before, and farmers will be able to monitor their production and harvest in ways that will maximize their effectiveness in providing food for our nation.

My work on the Energy & Commerce Committee has led me to introduce several pieces of legislation that update, create, and reform our federal communications and regulatory environment in order to keep pace with technological innovations and public interest. As we continue our work into the 115^th Congress, focusing on reigning in government overreach in order to get expanded access to the necessary tools and innovation that come from these industries will be my driving force.