Biden Proposes $100B for Broadband, Wants Affordability

President Joe Biden’s administration proposed $100 billion in broadband spending Wednesday as part of the $2 trillion American Jobs Plan infrastructure proposal. That level of spending and Biden’s calls for legislation to improve broadband pricing transparency and affordability mirror Democratic lawmakers' Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act (HR-1783/S-745) and Leading Infrastructure for Tomorrow’s America Act (HR-1848), as expected (see 2103160001). Reaction to the plan divided along party lines.

Biden’s proposal “prioritizes building ‘future proof’ broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas so that we finally reach 100 percent high-speed broadband coverage,” the White House said. “It also prioritizes support for broadband networks owned, operated by, or affiliated with local governments, non-profits, and co-operatives” and aims to set aside money for infrastructure on tribal lands. HR-1783/S-745 proposes more than $94 billion for broadband. HR-1848 includes $80 billion for broadband deployment and $15 billion for next-generation 911 (see 2103110060).

Biden emphasized during a Wednesday speech in Pittsburgh his proposal is “a once-in-a-generation investment in America.” The U.S. must “move now” to improve infrastructure, partly to “put us in a position of global competition with China,” he said. Biden noted this will ensure all Americans have "access to quality high-speed internet.” Americans “pay too much for internet service” and “we’re going to drive down” those prices, he said.

“Individual subsidies to cover internet costs may be needed in the short term,” but “continually providing subsidies to cover the cost of overpriced internet service is not the right long-term solution,” the White House said. The plan aims to “promote price transparency and competition among internet providers, including by lifting barriers” to municipal broadband and requiring ISPs “clearly disclose the prices they charge.”

The White House suggested Congress allocate $50 billion for “semiconductors manufacturing and research” to fulfill a mandate in the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America Act, which passed as part of the FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (see 2101030002). It wants another $50 billion for a National Science Foundation “technology directorate” to focus on semiconductors, “advanced communications technology” and other fields. The Semiconductor Industry Association praised those provisions.

Reaction

Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us last week she hasn’t set a date for the committee to mark up its part of a combined infrastructure bill. “We’re looking to get at it quick because it's obviously the issue next on our agenda,” she said. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., praised the proposal’s broadband goals Wednesday. Congress “must now build on” it “with bold legislative action,” he said in a statement.

House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., praised Biden’s proposal as “exactly what our nation needs right now.” It “aligns” with HR-1848, including expanding “access to broadband,” Pallone said. “I’m hopeful that Congress can come together quickly to pass transformational infrastructure legislation” that will “ensure no community is left behind.” Free Press, Ligado, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, NTCA, Rural Wireless Association, USTelecom and the Wireless ISP Association praised aspects of the White House plan.

House Commerce ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., said Biden’s proposal is another step in “jamming through a massive expansion in federal bureaucracy and government control.” The president “is poised to waste billions of dollars and hurt private investment in our networks without actually closing the digital divide,” she said. It “will set rural America back even further and force higher costs on families. Instead, we should be turbocharging our public and private investments and encouraging competition by streamlining permitting processes,” as Republicans proposed in 28 bills filed in February (see 2102160067).

Some in industry criticized the plan, including the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, Internet Innovation Alliance and National Retail Federation.

Urban League

The National Urban League’s recent Lewis Latimer Plan on broadband equity and inclusion “dovetails nicely” with Biden’s proposal, including on “ubiquitous deployment,” said DLA Piper’s Smitty Smith, the NUL plan’s senior director, in an interview. The NUL plan provides recommendations to Congress, FCC and other government entities to close the digital divide by addressing broadband access and affordability, particularly for communities of color.

Smith confirmed he has completed his work as a member of the Biden transition’s FCC landing team (see 2011160048) and spoke to us on his own behalf. Some have also mentioned Smith as a possible FCC commissioner or that he could join the Biden administration in another role.

The NUL plan urges Congress to either create a permanent version of the emergency broadband benefit program, enacted as part of the FY 2021 appropriations and COVID-19 aid package (see 2012280052), or a “Lifeline+” program that would address both mobile and fixed broadband services. It asked Congress to mandate that companies benefiting from federal broadband investment “improve their performance in providing access to economic opportunity.”

Broadband affordability is a key component of the NUL plan that Congress “really needs to be focused on” because it’s what’s “impeding access to the internet for the largest number of Americans,” Smith told us. “The data suggests that several times more Americans are not subscribing to broadband because it’s unaffordable than those that are not able to access networks.” Affordability “can be handled any number of ways,” either as part of the infrastructure bill or via separate legislation, he said: “It is very important that" communities unable to afford internet "don’t get left on the cutting room floor and that they end up being a major part of our planning nationally going forward.”