[1st-mile-nm] RECAP: IS THE BROADBAND STIMULUS WORKING?

[Richard Lowenberg]

Here's a copy of the email posting from Benton.org
on yesterday's House Committee hearing on broadband stimulus,
with links to video, agency testimonies and news reports, below.
RL


RECAP: IS THE BROADBAND STIMULUS WORKING?
[SOURCE: House of Representatives Commerce Committee]

The House Commerce Committee’s Communications and Technology 
Subcommittee held a hearing examining whether taxpayers are getting 
their money’s worth four years after the American Recovery and 
Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) allocated $7 billion for broadband 
grants and loans. A background memo for the Subcommittee’s majority 
staff highlighted that approximately $611 million of the funding 
covering 42 projects has been revoked, relinquished, or suspended. 
Republican members of the Subcommittee claimed throughout the hearing 
that the program is rife with wasteful spending. "Promoting broadband is 
a laudable goal. But there are many laudable goals," said Subcommittee 
Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR). "From what we know now, the government has 
spent millions on equipment it did not need and on stringing fiber to 
areas that already had it." Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) questioned the 
necessity of the broadband stimulus and suggested that the $2.5 billion 
in unused funds should be given back to the Treasury.

Subcommittee Democrats, however, defended the spending, which is made 
up of the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) and the 
Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP). They argued that while there will 
always be problems with large government programs, the broadband 
stimulus has been worthwhile. "The investments made in broadband 
infrastructure are having a profound impact in local communities around 
the country," said Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), the ranking member of the 
subcommittee. "I don't really understand how any of my colleagues can 
argue that providing better, faster Internet and more digital literacy 
training to underserved and unserved areas of this country is something 
we should criticize," Rep. Mike Doyle (R-PA) said.

Larry Strickling, the head of the National Telecommunications and 
Information Administration (NTIA), which oversees BTOP, pushed back 
against the Republican criticism in several testy exchanges with 
lawmakers.

benton.org/node/146570 : 
http://benton.org/node/146570?utm_campaign=Newsletters&utm_source=sendgrid&utm_medium=email



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Richard Lowenberg, Executive Dir.
1st-Mile Institute, 505-603-5200
Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504
www.1st-mile.com  rl at 1st-mile.com
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