MILL CREEK, Pa. -- The trillion-dollar infrastructure bill passed by Congress last month includes $65 billion to provide better internet access to rural and low-income communities.

Pennsylvanians see the internet as a necessity to their economic future.

In Huntingdon County, issues with getting online led to the founding of the Rural Broadband Cooperative, a small nonprofit that built a radio tower on a nearby mountain to provide wireless internet service to the central Pennsylvania region.

Henry McCreary, general manager of the Rural Broadband Cooperative, said based on customer anecdotes, the infrastructure bill could help families with students who struggled to connect during COVID.

"Mom had to drive the kids 15 miles every day to grandmother's house for the kids to be able to access to the internet to get their schoolwork done, which was really a burden for them for lots of reasons," McCreary related.

The cooperative is now up to 250 customers and growing. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will provide Pennsylvania with an estimated $100 million over the next five years to increase broadband connectivity across the Commonwealth. An estimated 394,000 Pennsylvanians lack internet coverage.

In Juniata County, 26% of households don't have broadband access, according to U.S. Census data.

Vince Giordano, director of the Juniata County Library, said many residents depend on them to get online. He said so far this year, the library's mobile hotspots have been used about 250 times. Giordano argued making broadband widespread in Juniata County is vital to its future.

"Pennsylvania is a big state. And I think if rural areas are going to excel, they need internet," Giordano contended. "And if they don't excel, people are going to leave. Even just having good internet can allow people to work from home and do remote work. But if people don't have the internet, they can't really do that."

Juniata County's population fell by about eleven-hundred people between 2010 and 2020, according to U.S. census data. Through the infrastructure package, 23% of Pennsylvanians will be eligible for the Affordability Connectivity Program, which will help low-income families pay for internet access.

May is Community Action Month, and local agencies helping low-income families hope Congress signs off on a plan to bolster and modernize their federal support.

Community Action Agencies help carry out services such as job training and energy assistance. The House recently approved a ten-year reauthorization of the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) program. Among the changes is a proposed permanent increase in income eligibility for those served by local programs.

Annie Shapiro, advocacy director for the Minnesota Community Action Partnership, said it is especially timely for families struggling with inflation and making just enough money to lose out on aid.

"Maybe they add an extra shift at work, and they start making more," Shapiro explained. "But in reality, their actual spending power is either not changed because they lost a lot of those benefits or is even less than what it was before."

The reauthorization also would increase annual funding to $1 billion. Shapiro pointed out it would give agencies more flexibility to tackle areas such as housing aid, in light of skyrocketing costs for rent. While the plan has bipartisan support, some House Republicans questioned the idea of expanding the scope of the program without knowing its effectiveness on a broader level.

Shapiro countered giving individual agencies a blanket assessment is impractical, because they each respond differently to the needs in their service area.

"For examples from Minnesota, some of our agencies use their CSBG funds to help fund their food shelves," Shapiro noted. "Food shelves get some funding, but are often not funded by other sources. "

Emily Bombich, director of planning for the Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency, said part of their funding has gone to efforts to provide shoes and boots to community members in need. She argued an overwhelming response for the items leads them to believe they could help others with additional support from Congress.

"If we were able to give them this gift where they don't have to buy their kids shoes, then maybe they can stretch their money farther," Bombich suggested.

Supporters said the grant program has not seen a reauthorization like this in nearly two decades, and are hoping bipartisan support will carry over into the Senate.

An initiative that would repeal Washington's capital-gains tax on the state's richest residents is struggling to gain traction.

Initiative No. 1929 would eliminate a 7% tax on stocks, bonds and other assets worth more than $250,000, which lawmakers approved in the 2021 session.

The tax is projected to bring in $415 million dollars for child care and education if it goes into effect in 2023.

Aaron Ostrom, executive director of the progressive organization Fuse Washington, said it would only be levied on a small number of people.

"These are people who own yachts and are looking to buy a second yacht," said Ostrom. "This is not just rich people, this is the ultra-wealthy who are looking to further rig a system that's already rigged in their favor at the expense of child care and early childhood education."

Supporters of I-1929 argue that the tax passed by the state Legislature last year is an income tax, which is unconstitutional in Washington state. A judge agreed in March and overturned the measure lawmakers passed last year.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson is appealing that decision to the Washington Supreme Court.

Organizers of I-1929 have until July 8 to collect about 325,000 signatures. Ostrom says they are far behind and have not even reached $1 million in donations for the campaign.

"The longer you wait, the more expensive it gets," said Ostrom. "So they would probably have to pay over $10 million to get on the ballot at this point, and they're not raising funds that are anywhere near that neighborhood and they're not showing any signs of actually starting to move into signature gathering."

Ostrom disagreed that the capital gains tax passed by lawmakers qualifies as an income tax.

"It's a tax on extraordinary capital gains for a tiny number of ultra-wealthy people," said Ostrom. "And Wall Street speculation is not the same thing as earning income."

Gov. Tom Wolf, lawmakers and community leaders are calling on the General Assembly to pass legislation that would send checks of up to $2,000 to millions of Pennsylvanians.

Earlier this year, Wolf unveiled a $1.7 billion proposal aimed at helping communities recover from the pandemic through American Rescue Plan dollars.

Part of that plan includes the $500 million Pennsylvania Opportunity Program, which would provide direct payments for households with an income of $80,000 or less.

Wolf said with inflation climbing, more Pennsylvanians are experiencing financial insecurity.

"The problem is that far too many people live paycheck to paycheck," said Wolf. "And even now, with a small increase in living expenses - even if that's all people were facing with the inflation, that can have devastating consequences. Pennsylvanians deserve better and there are ways we can help."

Pennsylvania has $2.2 billion unused American Rescue Plan dollars that must be used by the end of 2024.

Democratic leaders in the state Senate and House have introduced legislation to support the Opportunity Program. Both were referred to the respective chamber's Finance Committee last month.

Wolf and legislative leaders also are continuing their calls to increase the state minimum wage, which is currently $7.25 per hour and has not had an increase since 2009.

State Rep. Patty Kim - D-Dauphin - has introduced a bill that would raise the minimum wage to $12 per hour by July and would reach $15 by 2028.

"If we learned anything from this pandemic, we need to go back to the basics," said Kim. "We need safe, affordable housing, we need good schools, we need a living wage, we need to value our workers and we need each other."

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Living Wage calculator shows that today, a single adult in Pennsylvania needs to earn nearly $17 per hour to support themselves - while a single adult with one child needs nearly $33 per hour to support their family.