Kentuckians often feel disconnected from the rest of the world. In most cases, this is a good thing. State residents love their beautiful forests, hills and mountains and cherish nothing more than the privacy and beautiful scenery. But when Washington, D.C., tries to use government force to artificially sever state communication even further, it’s a different story.

The Federal Communications Commission, an independent government agency, recently auctioned off a lot of “spectrum,” which gives Americans their cellphone, television and radio signals. It did this with the intent of removing dead cellphone patches across the country. This auction may have been a good idea – even a great one – but what’s not great is the possible repercussions for some states: a sharp decline in signal for nearly 1,000 local television channels and over 600 radio stations.

The worst part? Many of these are Kentucky’s TV channels and radio stations. WNKY and WKCT in Bowling Green, WKYT and WFSU in Lexington and WDRB in Louisville are just a few of the nearly 100 state broadcasters at risk.

Kentucky is 42 percent rural. Many in Washington do not seem to grasp just how important local TV and radio is to rustic America. Unlike in many cities, these stations are sometimes the only tools available to keep up with what’s going on in rural communities and lines of work.

Just a few generations ago, Kentuckians were much more isolated from each other. It was hard to gauge what was going on in the rest of the state, particularly for farming, as vast miles of open land separated residents. To know what was occurring, you had to read about it in a local paper or hear about it from a neighbor. There were no minute-to-minute updates throughout the day.

The world changed when local TV and radio came into play. Both are now very important to Kentuckians’ daily lives – so much so that they represent a $14.6 billion state industry and employ over 33,000 state residents. Without these local broadcasters, it would be much more difficult for many Kentucky farmers and companies to continue going about their daily business.

Some of these channels and stations are so small that many in Washington may not even know they exist, but local producers and companies depend on them for updates on weather, local grain and livestock pricing, local sales and auctions, and agricultural news in general. Killing these TV and radio connections would be the equivalent of reversing nearly a century of personal and professional progress.

Thankfully, by no means is Congress’ intent to leave Kentucky behind. In 2012, it passed a TV relocation fund to help channels in jeopardy of losing their signals. But the auction did not conclude until 2017. As we get closer to the relocation deadline, it’s now clear that more reparations are needed to protect Kentucky’s signals – especially its radio stations since they have yet to receive anything.

Kentucky is one of the most fiscally conservative states in the nation, and it’s not asking for handouts. Since the government made $7 billion from the spectrum auction, protecting the state’s TV and radio signals won’t even increase spending. If the government appropriates enough money for this purpose, it will still have billions of dollars in profit left over.

These reparations are the equivalent of simple, standard governmental reparations for eminent domain. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., and Rep. Bill Flores, R-Texas, understand this, which is why they introduced rural America protection bills for this purpose.

In the current appropriations push, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell needs to take care of Kentucky. With the election of President Donald Trump, we were promised that the forgotten men and women would be overlooked no longer. The real test of this pledge begins now. Hopefully, Congress does not pass over Kentucky and its needs.