9 Senators Urge USDA to Change ReConnect Program Ban on CAF-II Recipients
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and eight other senators urged the Department of Agriculture Wednesday to change a requirement that bars ISPs in rural communities that received FCC Connect America Fund Phase II funding from applying for the Rural Utilities Service's…
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ReConnect rural broadband funding program. “USDA can, and should, fix this,” Wyden and the others said in a letter to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. The department “is neither statutorily required to eliminate FCC grant recipients from ReConnect eligibility, nor does it consider satellite service as sufficient broadband service for the purposes of awarding ReConnect funding.” Also signing: Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.; John Barrasso, R-Wyo.; Mike Enzi, R-Wyo.; Doug Jones, D-Ala.; Angus King, I-Maine; Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.; Patty Murray, D-Wash.; and Tom Udall, D-N.M. USDA didn’t comment.