Trump, House Democratic Task Force Circulating Broadband Funding Proposals
President Donald Trump’s administration and the all-Democratic House Rural Broadband Task Force are teeing up proposals that include connectivity money, Capitol Hill aides and lobbyists told us. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and some lawmakers, meanwhile, used a Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee hearing on the commission’s spectrum auctions program (see 2006160030) to highlight the need for additional telecom funding as part of COVID-19 aid legislation, including for broadband.
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The administration’s $1 trillion infrastructure proposal includes funding for 5G infrastructure and rural broadband deployments, communications sector lobbyists said. The proposal is expected to include funding to replace gear now in U.S. networks from companies determined to threaten national security, in keeping with the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act (HR-4998), lobbyists said. The proposal is also expected to supplement the FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, they said.
A White House spokesperson didn’t comment on the administration’s plans but said Trump since taking office in 2017 “has been serious about a bipartisan infrastructure package” that “invests in future industries” and “promotes permitting efficiency.” Trump is expected to focus on rural broadband access at a Thursday event. He said in March he wanted future COVID-19 legislation to include $2 trillion in infrastructure spending, including for broadband (see 2003310070).
Taxpayers Protection Alliance President David Williams criticized reports of the coming proposal, saying “once again, struggling families and taxpayers are being asked to foot the bill for pet projects and potentially wasteful spending.” Regulatory “reform and spectrum clearing, not taxpayer dollars, are needed to close the digital divide,” he said. “A poorly targeted $1 trillion bill could result in thousands of earmarks instead of real infrastructure projects and sink American households further into debt, while setting back internet connectivity.”
The House task force’s draft proposal mirrors some parts of the plan Majority Whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina and other Democratic leaders unveiled in April (see 2004300058) and expands in other aspects. It would allocate $86 billion for broadband, including $80 billion in direct investments, as expected. That includes $9 billion for a Broadband Connectivity Fund to give eligible households “additional broadband benefit,” enough to reimburse participating carriers up to $50 per qualifying household. The fund would also allow carriers to be paid $100 per qualifying household that they supply with laptops and other connected devices.
The plan includes $5 billion for a proposed NTIA-administered broadband infrastructure finance and innovation program that communities and public-private partnerships can use, reflecting the earlier Broadband Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (HR-4127). It includes funding for digital equity investments, which mirrors a proposal in the Digital Equity Act (HR-4486/S-1167). Also present is language from the House-passed Advancing Critical Connectivity Expands Service, Small Business Resources, Opportunities, Access and Data Based on Assessed Need and Demand (Access Broadband) Act (HR-1328/S-1046) that would establish the Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth within NTIA (see 1905080081). The plan has a provision resembling HR-1693, which would make deployment of Wi-Fi equipment on school buses eligible for E-rate funding. It also includes language reflecting the Closing the Homework Gap Through Mobile Hotspots Act (HR-5243).
Pai noted his ongoing push for Congress to provide funding for the FCC to implement HR-4998 and the Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability Act broadband mapping law (S-1822). The FCC is seeking $2 billion to implement HR-4998 and $65 million for S-1822 work (see 2003230066). Failure to appropriate money for S-1822 “will end up significantly delaying rather than expediting the production of better broadband maps,” Pai said.
Senate Appropriations Financial Services ranking member Chris Coons, D-Del., and several other lawmakers noted their continued frustrations over FCC broadband mapping. Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., pressed Pai on whether there would be “consequences” for carriers that provided “false information” to the FCC on coverage data for the maps used for the scuttled Mobility Fund Phase II program. He noted rural carriers will “never be compensated” for the costs they incurred to prove the MF-II maps “were wrong.” It’s important the FCC ensure the use of false information doesn’t “happen again in the future,” Lankford said.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., raised concerns about the speed at which the FCC plans to dole out money from the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, citing the ongoing lack of accurate maps. The agency intends to hold the RDOF Phase I auction in late October, but some in Congress are pressing the commission to speed up disbursal of some of the money (see 2005280048). Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., also asked about the timeline.