Three years and forty-three billion dollars later, President Biden’s “landmark infrastructure bill” has failed to connect a single rural American home or business with reliable, high-speed internet access.
The Washington Times reports projects meant to modernize rural internet access aren’t expected to break ground until next year. The reason for the holdup? Bureaucratic red tape.
“Lawmakers and internet companies blame the slow rollout on burdensome requirements for obtaining the funds, including climate change mandates, preferences for hiring union workers, and the requirement that eligible companies prioritize the employment of ‘justice-impacted’ people with criminal records to install broadband equipment,” The Times writes.
Fox News host Jesse Watters quipped this week: “The program is being hamstrung by regulations about climate change, DEI, and ‘justice impacted hires.’ I’m not sure rural Idaho has enough trans-Pacific islander ex-cons with electrical engineering degrees ready to rewire their digital infrastructure.”
“Elon Musk is connecting remote tribes to the internet and Biden can’t even get a new router to a family in Nebraska,” Watters added.
The Commerce Department, which distributes funds under the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program, is trying to regulate consumer rates. This puts the department at odds with Congressional GOP members and internet providers who claim the move is illegal.
While projects will likely break ground next year, Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr says the program’s goal of delivering reliable high-speed internet to underserved areas may not be realized until 2030.
“There hasn’t been a single shovel’s worth of dirt … turned towards connecting people,” Carr says.
As of June 2024, only nine states and D.C. have been approved for the BEAD program; all fifty-six states and territories have submitted proposals. Biden signed the funding into law in November 2021 as part of the trillion-dollar Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
“They just put too many steps in the process,” Carr adds. “The addition of a substantive wish list of progressive ideas they’ve layered in certainly didn’t help with the timeline.”
The climate and DEI requirements were reportedly added to the BEAD program after it was signed into law.
