Alabama’s senior member in the U.S. House of Representatives is continuing his ongoing push to make broadband access more accessible at a time where it’s perhaps more critical than ever.

U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt sent a letter Wednesday to President Donald Trump raising the issue in pointing out that with students now largely relegated to online access to their schools, children in rural areas may not have the internet connection they need.

"As our nation confronts the COVID-19 pandemic, I urge you to consider the effects that efforts to contain the spread of the virus are having on those living in rural communities who lack sufficient broadband access," Aderholt said in the letter.

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The congressman, the top Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, wrote that not only do children need broadband access for school but adults do as well to access telehealth services.

Alabama's schools have been closed indefinitely because of the COVID-19 pandemic. And Gov. Kay Ivey issued a statewide public health order on Thursday that effectively shut down the state.

"These new realities have left millions of rural Americans who have little or no access to broadband feeling abandoned and desperately in need of help," Aderholt wrote.

Aderholt, a native of Haleyville, has long been a proponent of expanding broadband access to rural areas of Alabama. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue visited Hamilton in northwest Alabama in 2018 to announce a $3 million grant to partner with Tombigbee Communications’ efforts to build out its broadband coverage area.

Aderholt also spearheaded an effort in Congress for $625 million in funding for expanding broadband access to rural areas.

“I applaud your strong leadership through this national emergency as your administration works to change the trajectory of COVID-19 and slow its spread and simply ask that you not forget rural Americans who are forced to face the consequences of the digital divide as new containment measures are implemented,” Aderholt wrote.