A key part of President Obama's stimulus package includes creating high-speed Internet networks across the country. Last week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee took the first step toward providing billions in Internet investments that would turn an idea into reality. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said the investments will link businesses and households in rural or underserved areas to the global economy.

"Broadband investments are important because they have a tremendous multiplier effect on our economy," he said. President Obama has argued that broadband spending will create thousands of new jobs.

House Democrats want $6 billion to build a new infrastructure with high-speed connections, not much different than the vast undertaking in the 1950s to build the interstate highway system that connected one end of the country to the other and provided sweeping opportunities to develop many parts of the United States. We report on this story this week, just the beginning of what will become a massive undertaking sweeping the country.

While most of us have Internet access at our homes and at work, just think what it would be like if the system blanketed the entire country, and no one was left out in the cold? The bill has not become law yet and there are many unanswered questions and disputes to be resolved. But as we try to get the economy back on track, a sizable investment in broadband makes sense for the short and long term benefit of the country. - Judi