Broadband Spending Prescribed by National Plan Could Face Hill Resistance

Some members of Congress may be wary of spending additional money on broadband, said Republican aides at a Broadband Breakfast event Tuesday morning. The FCC’s National Broadband Plan asks Congress for $16 billion for a national public-safety network and $9 billion for a new Universal Service Fund emphasizing high-speed access. Aides from both parties called the plan a step toward broadband for all.

Criticism of the broadband stimulus programs may make lawmakers hesitate to spend more on high-speed access, said Neil Fried, the House Commerce Committee’s minority counsel. “The problem is the stimulus bill was actually rather rushed and poorly drafted, and we've just spent … $7 billion for NTIA and RUS grants,” he said. “There is very significant concern that that money is not being spent in the right places.” The plan recommends new programs and spending increases, but proposes little to cut federal costs or reduce burdens on the industry, said David Quinalty, an aide to Ranking Member John Ensign, R-Nev., of the Senate Communications Subcommittee.

Both parties want a public-safety network and a USF that takes broadband to the unserved, countered Danny Sepulveda, aide to Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass. “It isn’t going to happen for free,” and “$25 billion is a fairly small percentage of the overall amount of money that the FCC believes has to be invested to reach its goal,” he said. Sepulveda disputed that broadband stimulus money has been spent poorly. “As far as I know there have only been two overbuild objections,” he said. “And a significant number of members on both sides of the aisle have been at ribbon-cutting ceremonies on this over the last year."

The broadband plan calls for appropriations for a revamped USF but doesn’t ask for legislation to create it. But Majority Counsel Shawn Chang of House Commerce said a bill by Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., of the Communications Subcommittee is “complementary” to the plan. Boucher’s bill is almost ready, and it may be marked up this month. It might be better for Congress to deal with a sweeping USF overhaul “rather than try and shoehorn what may or may not be existing authority” under the Telecom Act, Quinalty said.

It’s also critical to pass spectrum-inventory legislation, Hill aides said. Inventory bills await House and Senate floor votes. An inventory “would help inform the plan’s goals,” Sepulveda said. But requirements of reallocation reports shouldn’t slow the efforts taking place to identify spectrum for reallocation, Chang said. It would be good to do an inventory before spectrum is reallocated, Quinalty said. Policymakers should seek to avoid a repeat of the stimulus, in which grants have gone out before a broadband map was prepared, he said.

Republican and Democratic aides said they like the broadband plan overall. “I am actually very encouraged by some of the things in the document,” Fried said. “The good news is that the FCC has conducted a fact-based inquiry” and recognized that many Americans have broadband, he said. The plan represents a “step forward” and sets a “worthy goal,” but it will be important to distinguish whether the goal is to give every American or every home access, Quinalty said. Chang and Sepulveda praised the FCC for its emphasis on adoption in addition to deployment. “The 200 pages I read were very good,” Sepulveda said. “They construct a solid argument,” and the plan is “very data heavy” and “fairly non-ideological,” he said. Sepulveda said he expects much bipartisan agreement on the plan’s goals. The debate to come will be over how best to achieve them, he said: “I think we can do that in a bipartisan, inclusive way."

Praise from the Hill

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Tuesday the plan “embraces the goal of universal, affordable broadband access across a variety of platforms, and provides Congress with an opportunity to work with the FCC to make this goal a reality.” Broadband deployment will create millions of new jobs and increase the nation’s global competiveness, and affordable Internet access will advance national priorities like health care, education, public safety and energy independence, she said.

"The Commission has given us a roadmap to a broadband future in which we consume less energy, improve the quality of health care through the use of technologies such as electronic medical records and ensure that every American has access to the tools they need to succeed,” said Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass. The plan is consistent with his bills on the E-rate program (HR-4619), disabilities communications (HR-3101), health care (HR-2560) and access to electricity information, he said.

Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., thanked the FCC for including Congressional ideas, including her own bills to fund E-911 upgrades (HR-4829) and require broadband conduit construction in federal transportation projects (HR-2428). “It’s good to see that the Commission did not reinvent the wheel, but considered all of the proposals that are already on the books,” she said. “The FCC released an insightful, analytical Broadband Plan that recognizes the importance of including all Americans in nationwide deployment, while at the same time emphasizing the importance of these services to our economic health."

Former Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich., of the House Commerce Committee asked the FCC “not to leap haphazardly into implementation of the plan, but rather to work with the Congress in ensuring all Americans have access to broadband technology.” He praised the commission for finishing the plan. “As with any plan of this scope, questions about its implementation and effects will naturally arise, and as such, I look forward to upcoming congressional oversight hearings on the National Broadband Plan."

The Senate Commerce Committee said it will hold a hearing on the plan Tuesday, as expected (CD March 16 p5). The session starts at 2:30 p.m. A House Communications Subcommittee hearing will take place two days later.