Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) advocated for the inclusion of his bill, the HOTSPOTS Act, in the upcoming COVID-19 relief package as well as funding to expand and support telehealth programs for Veterans and West Virginians.

“I introduced the HOTSPOTS Act to expand hotspot access for libraries in rural and low income communities and hopefully we can include this legislation in the COVID-19 package we’re working on right now. So many rural areas, especially Appalachia, have no connectivity whatsoever… if these hotspots were given to a Veteran, they would be able to connect for their telehealth appointments, but right now they can’t. Can you give me a sense of where the devices are going and that West Virginia is getting their fair share? Can you also determine where the VA telehealth infrastructure is going and how you’re helping Veterans get high speed internet access? That’s what we’re having problems with. There’s no use to having an iPad if you have no connectivity,” said Senator Manchin.

To watch Senator Manchin at the SVAC hearing, please click here.

To see the West Virginia priorities left out of McConnell’s COVID-19 relief proposal, please click here.