It is the sense of Congress that— (1) a broadband connection and digital literacy are increasingly critical to how individuals— (A) participate in the society, economy, and civic institutions of the United States ; and (B) access health care and essential services, obtain education, and build careers; (2) digital exclusion— (A) carries a high societal and economic cost; (B) materially harms the opportunity of an individual with respect to the economic success, educational achievement, positive health outcomes, social inclusion, and civic engagement of that individual; and (C) exacerbates existing wealth and income gaps, especially those experienced by covered populations ; (3) achieving digital equity for all people of the United States requires additional and sustained investment and research efforts; (4) the Federal Government, as well as State , tribal, territorial, and local governments, have made social, legal, and economic obligations that necessarily extend to how the citizens and residents of those governments access and use the internet; and (5) achieving digital equity is a matter of social and economic justice and is worth pursuing. ( Pub. L. 117–58, div. F, title III, § 60303 , Nov. 15, 2021 , 135 Stat. 1212 .)