Vice President Kamala Harris spent her afternoon in New Hampshire on Friday, making multiple stops across the state to tout various aspects of the administration’s American Jobs Plan. 

What You Need To Know

  • Vice President Kamala Harris traveled across New Hampshire on Friday to drum up support for the administration's American Jobs Plan 

  • Harris’ first stop was at the New Hampshire Electric Co-op in Plymouth, a not-for-profit company that brings electricity to rural parts of the state

  • Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan, who met Harris on the trip, spoke of the need to ensure all Americans have access to broadband services

  • The American Jobs Plan includes a $100 billion investment to “bring affordable, reliable, high-speed broadband to every American”

Harris’ first stop was at the New Hampshire Electric Co-op in Plymouth, a not-for-profit company that brings electricity to rural parts of the state. There, she met with co-op president and CEO Steve Camerino, electric design technician Jeff Bird, and Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan, who spoke of the need to ensure all Americans have access to broadband services. 

"Broadband access and affordability isn't a luxury,” Hassan said. “It's really essential. And we learned that during the pandemic, when the need for broadband access grew significantly."

Harris agreed, saying Biden’s $2.3 trillion proposal would allocate significant funds to ensure there is "affordable access to broadband to everyone” in the United States. 

“Many of us grew up with — you know, we had to do our homework and if you needed help you went to the Encyclopedia Britannica,” she joked. “Those days are over. Now, you've got to have access to the Internet!"

The American Jobs Plan has a significant focus on rebuilding digital infrastructure nationwide, with a planned $100 billion investment to “bring affordable, reliable, high-speed broadband to every American,” per the White House. 

Part of that funding would go to small businesses, like the New Hampshire Electric Co-op, so they can be more competitive in the domestic marketplace. The funds would also be used to reduce the cost of broadband internet service in rural areas and tribal territories. 

Biden’s plan also calls on Congress to invest $48 billion in workforce development programs to train Americans for jobs in the developing infrastructure fields. Harris on Friday said the jobs plan will help all Americans gain access to millions of apprenticeships slots to train them for such positions. 

“[The American Jobs Plan is] about also understanding that if we're going to build back better, America has to invest in the skills development of our workforce,” Harris said, adding: “Let’s invest in the building trades, let’s invest in those apprenticeship programs that, for as long as we can remember, have been the best at passing on the skills that will build us back up.”