By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 9-15-23
Republicans on the Senate Commerce Committee have released a report they said shows that the Biden Administration’s $42-billion-plus Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program is duplicative of other subsidy programs and ripe for waste, fraud, and abuse, like doling out money to serve unserved locations at the National Zoo or funding “beachfront properties, mountain vacation homes, and remote islands.”
The report also claims the program, which gives money to states to spend on broadband buildouts, includes requirements that “drive up overall program costs [and] burn through funding.” BEAD’s goal is to get Internet to all Americans by the end of the decade. » Read More