GOP Bill Would Codify Existing NTIA Practices, Strickling Says
NTIA has no problem with a developing bill to speed the return of unused broadband stimulus funds to the U.S. Treasury, NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling said at a conference Tuesday of the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition. Strickling and Rural Utility Service Administrator Jonathan Adelstein plan to testify at Friday’s hearing on the bill before the House Communications Subcommittee. In an earlier panel Tuesday, Democratic Hill staffers questioned the need for legislation.
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The bill is still being finalized by House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., Strickling and a Democratic committee aide said. It appeared in draft form at a hearing in early February. From what NTIA has seen, the bill would not change the agency’s current practice of returning unused funds to the Treasury, he said: “We're already operating under that rule.” The bill also would require the agency to respond to Inspector General queries in 30 days. That’s a “perfectly appropriate practice,” said Strickling, adding that it’s unlikely the IG would raise a problem the agency didn’t already know about. NTIA tries to fix grantees’ problems long before they get to the IG’s desk, he said.
Democrats have questioned the need for the Walden legislation. Democratic committee aide Shawn Chang said last year’s Dodd-Frank Act already requires that returned money from Recovery Act grants go back to the Treasury. NTIA and RUS “don’t have any flexibility” to repurpose the funds or do anything else, Chang said. Senate Communications Subcommitee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., isn’t working on similar legislation, said Kerry aide Danny Sepulveda. Kerry thinks “the programs are working well,” Sepulveda said.
Grant recipients created more than 1,000 jobs last quarter through hiring on their own payrolls, Strickling said. Grantees have installed more than 4,000 computers for public use, and they're reporting very high demand for use of the computers, he said. Grantees have provided 150,000 hours of training to more than 65,000 people, he said. Strickling said 47 of 102 projects requiring environment assessments have been approved, and another 46 are in the final stages of review.
Grantees have entered into 90 interconnection agreements with third parties, including incumbent broadband providers, and they're in negotiations with another 200, Strickling said. That’s important because it shows the projects benefit incumbents as well, he said.
Money for NTIA oversight had been a problem, “but by all accounts, we've been taken care of,” Strickling said. “We have all the money we need” to do adequate oversight of the program, he said. “As long as the continuing resolutions keep coming, we'll be in good shape” for the rest of this fiscal year, he said.
Democratic and Republican Senate staffers agreed that funding NTIA oversight of the broadband program is important. Having no money for oversight could lead to more waste, fraud and abuse, said Matthew Hussey, aide to Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine. Kerry supported oversight money in a letter last year, said Sepulveda.