Four US senators say that the Internet speed standard for a government grant program shouldn't be stuck at 4Mbps.

The Community Connect program run by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) funds broadband deployment in rural communities, but it uses a speed standard of just 4Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream. Even that speed is an increase over the 3Mbps (download and upload combined) standard the program used until just a few weeks ago.

US Senators Angus King (I-Maine), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) say that the USDA didn't raise the standard high enough. In a letter last week to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, the senators questioned the decision to set the grant program's speed threshold below the 10Mbps/1Mbps standard used by a separate USDA loan program.

"Earlier this month, USDA upped broadband speed requirements for the Broadband Access Loan Program to 10Mbps, while Community Connect was only upped to 4Mbps," the senators noted. "In order to maintain the programs’ relevance in an age of rapidly increasing demand for bandwidth, we strongly urge you to consider updating their broadband speed definitions, particularly the Community Connect Program’s Minimum Broadband Service benchmark."

We contacted the USDA for comment today but haven't heard back.

Community Connect gives grants to state and local governments, federally recognized tribes, non-profits, and private companies. The program's goal is to fund broadband deployment in rural communities where it isn't economically viable to deploy Internet service without financial subsidies. Since 2002, it has provided more than $160 million to 240 broadband projects, and last month started taking applications for a new round of grants.

Eligibility is limited to rural areas that lack any existing broadband service of at least 4Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream. Raising the standard would allow organizations from more rural areas to apply for funding. "Such a change will enable communities that are currently ineligible, but which nonetheless lack adequate service, to engage with [the USDA] and providers to improve their connectivity," the senators' letter said.

Congress delegated the authority to update speed definitions for the USDA's broadband programs to the agency, the senators acknowledged. But they argued that "federal policymakers must ensure that taxpayer-supported infrastructure is sufficiently robust to handle demand. It is not only a matter of fairness that rural Americans can fully utilize broadband-enabled resources, but also a matter of ensuring that taxpayers are receiving the full economic development return on their investments."

Broadband speed standards have also been controversial at the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC raised its definition of "advanced telecommunications capability" from 4Mbps/1Mbps to 25Mbps/3Mbps last year, angering ISPs that wanted lower speeds to count toward broadband deployment figures.

But 25Mbps isn't the norm for federal subsidy programs. The FCC's rural broadband subsidy program lets Internet providers qualify for funding by providing just 10Mbps/1Mbps speeds. That program's speed requirement was boosted from 4Mbps/1Mbps in late 2014; at the time, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said that 4Mbps simply wasn't fast enough to keep pace with online video and other modern Internet services.

The FCC also uses the 10Mbps/1Mbps standard for its Lifeline program, which gives $9.25 monthly subsidies to poor people to help them buy Internet and phone service. FCC officials explained that they didn't set the Lifeline standard higher because 25Mbps packages would cost significantly more than the $9.25 monthly subsidy.

Update on May 12: A USDA spokesperson has provided a response, saying the Community Connect grant program and Broadband Access Loan Program have different speed standards because they target different markets. While the grant program "funds broadband in areas that are unserved," the loan program is for "areas that are underserved, although priority is given to applicants who propose to provide broadband to the greatest number of unserved consumers," the USDA said.

The USDA is proposing to raise the required speeds for the loan program from 10Mbps/1Mbps to 25Mbps/3Mbps, the statement also said. If that change is made, loan recipients would have to provide speeds of at least 25Mbps/3Mbps. But the USDA did not mention any plans to change the 4Mbps/1Mbps threshold used to determine eligibility for the grant program.