But there is a glimmer of hope now as Congressional leaders on a bipartisan basis are pushing a major reform in the Farm Bill to wire rural communities with broadband – especially those places universally believed to be impossible to wire because of their relatively small population and the huge land masses and distances between users. The Senate version of the Farm Bill pending now in Congress has a plan to solve this problem. It reforms broadband loan and infrastructure programs to ensure funds are targeted on areas that are currently unserved by high-speed internet. It enlists the two federal agencies with the most experience in broadband deployment – the FCC and NTIA – to map out and prioritize the unserved areas. And most important, it puts a stop to corporate manipulation that would divert funds needed to wire unserved rural areas into areas where broadband service is already available – putting an end to the wasteful practice where federal broadband funds are diverted to areas already served by the private sector, doubling up broadband for the “haves” while leaving the real “have-nots” marooned in the analog past.