Like a broken record, the government has a terrible habit of repeating mistakes. Frequently, these mistakes take the form of the government announcing a new program to much public fanfare with promises that this program will solve a particular problem once and for all.
Unfortunately, the problem is rarely solved, but a large amount of taxpayer money is squandered in the process despite numerous red flags. This increasingly appears to be the story of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment program.
Designed to expand high-speed internet access to all Americans and help close the digital divide, the BEAD program also includes a wide range of political wish list items that have little to do with achieving this goal. It now appears that many of these items are, at least, partially responsible for the program’s slow implementation.
In June, the BEAD program came under intense scrutiny for the lack of progress that has been made since it was first created in 2021 as part of President Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Commenting on the situation, Brendan Carr of the Federal Communications Commission noted that even years after the program’s announcement, “it has not connected even 1 person with those funds” and that the NTIA now says that “no construction projects will even start until 2025 at the earliest.”
Carr places much of the blame on “Climate change mandates, tech biases, DEI requirements, favored government-run networks + more.” Such political items have nothing to do with connecting Americans but have been inserted into the program anyway.
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Nate Scherer is a policy analyst with the American Consumer Institute, a nonprofit education and research organization. For more information about the Institute, visit us at www.TheAmericanConsumer.Org or follow us on X @ConsumerPal. This piece is exclusive to Broadband Breakfast.