Thune, Wicker Say RUS Shouldn't Use E-Connectivity Pilot Program for Broadband Overbuilding
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., urged the Rural Utilities Service not to overbuild existing FCC-funded broadband deployments as it allocates funds from the $600 million e-Connectivity Pilot program. It was…
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created in the FY 2019 omnibus spending bill (see 1803210041). RUS is seeking comment by Sept. 10 on the program to target communities where at least 90 percent of households lack access at least 10 Mbps downstream/1 Mbps upstream (see 1807260053). Senate Republicans are also eyeing the process for reconciling the House- and Senate-passed farm bills (see 1807160064) to curb RUS overbuilding, a Hill GOP official said. “We know you are working to correct these past shortcomings,” but “we strongly urge you to take the necessary steps to avoid the failures of the past Administration,” Thune and Wicker wrote Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue. The senators cited a 2009 GAO report that RUS faced challenges (see 0911170137). “It is crucial that RUS plan projects and coordinate the distribution of funds under the pilot program with the FCC, to ensure that the pilot program does not result in overbuilding in covered by current and planned [Connect America Fund] deployments,” Thune and Wicker said: NTIA "has been charged with updating” broadband coverage maps “and will be another critical resource.”