Johnson Takes Lead as 'Go-To Guy' on Broadband Infrastructure for House GOP

Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, will be the “go-to guy” leading broadband infrastructure efforts for the House Commerce Committee and “therefore, for the Republican conference,” House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said Tuesday before a gathering of NTCA members. “This is a guy you’re going to see a lot as we focus on broadband expansion.”

Broadband infrastructure is a Blackburn priority this year, and she repeatedly expresses confidence that such components will find their own way into President Donald Trump’s promised $1-trillion infrastructure package, a proposal sketched in broad terms. Blackburn said early this year she would delegate different policy areas, such as Lifeline oversight and encryption, to different subcommittee members. Johnson accompanied her to the NTCA meeting, unannounced.

Johnson met with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and others as part of a working group meeting Tuesday, he said. That conversation raised the need to focus “on unserved areas before we go to the underserved areas,” said Johnson, who took office in 2011 and has been a subcommittee member for years. “We’ve got to make sure the maps are there.” He said he was a “country bumpkin” growing up on a mule farm and understands the difficulty of bringing connectivity to rural areas. His biography touts his background in IT before holding office. He's encouraged by Pai’s Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee, he said: “Chairman Blackburn is exactly right. You’re going to see a lot of me, and you’re going to see a lot of focus on this issue.”

Johnson will try to educate elected officials and others “so that the uptake rates are a little bit higher,” Blackburn said. “We are here to fight for you.”

The Tuesday meeting with Pai involved the rural telecom working group including Reps. Bob Latta, R-Ohio, and Peter Welch, D-Vt., their spokespeople said. There were about 12 other lawmakers in a meeting mostly focused on broadband infrastructure, a Latta spokesman said.

“It was a good, bipartisan meeting," Welch said in an interview. "We talked all about rural broadband and how that’s essential. He’s going to give a list of specific things we can do.” Welch suspected about 15 lawmakers came in and out of the meeting. "Chairman Pai enjoyed a productive discussion with this bipartisan group dedicated to tackling the important issue of connecting rural America to broadband," a commission spokesman said.

Federal government “gets in the way” of broadband deployment, Blackburn said of lessons learned from past administration efforts. The goal is to get the federal government out of the way and “then let the private sector spur this,” she said. “What do we have to show for it?” she asked of the Obama administration broadband stimulus spending, citing “stagnant” uptake and expansion and much money going toward what she called overbuilding.

“Broadband expansion is going to be a big part of the infrastructure bill,” Blackburn said. She cited her recent subcommittee efforts with the draft bills on siting and dig once (see 1703210056). “We must accurately collect and aggregate the data and update the National Broadband Map,” she added. Lawmakers “will be looking at the utilization of the USF” and at Rural Utilities Service funding and “putting the focus on unserved areas,” taking “a deep dive” at Commerce and working with NTIA and the FCC through the reauthorization processes atop her agenda, she said. “We’re beginning by restructuring and reauthorizing the NTIA and the FCC so that as we get the infrastructure package, as we pass our legislation through the House and [Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D.,] guides it through the Senate, we are ready to come out of the box and get this money out there to make certain broadband is expanded,” Blackburn said.