U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) recently joined eight of her GOP colleagues in chastising U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris for what they say is a mishandling of federal broadband initiatives.
The Republican senators said they had “serious concerns” regarding Harris’ role as the administration’s so-called “broadband czar” after being tasked by President Joe Biden in 2021 to lead the government’s efforts to expand broadband services to unserved Americans, according to a letter they sent her last month.
“It appears that your performance as ‘broadband czar’ has mirrored your performance as ‘border czar,’ marked by poor management and a lack of effectiveness despite significant federal broadband investments and your promises to deliver broadband to rural areas,” wrote Sen. Blackburn and her colleagues in the Sept. 18 letter.
Under Harris’ tenure, the senators wrote, the administration’s $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program has yet to connect a single person to the internet.
“Instead of focusing on delivering broadband services to unserved areas, your administration has used the BEAD program to add partisan, extralegal requirements that were never envisioned by Congress and have obstructed broadband deployment,” wrote Sen. Blackburn and her colleagues.
“By imposing burdensome climate change mandates on infrastructure projects, prioritizing government-owned networks over private investment, mandating the use of unionized labor in states, and seeking to regulate broadband rates, your administration has caused unnecessary delays leaving millions of Americans unconnected,” they added.
Among the lawmakers who also signed the letter were U.S. Sens. Deb Fischer (R-NE), Roger Wicker (R-MS), and Todd Young (R-IN).
“The administration’s lack of focus on truly connecting the unconnected has failed the American people and represents a gross misuse of limited taxpayer dollars,” they wrote. “The American public deserves better.”