'I'd Welcome' Direct Broadband Funding in Infrastructure Bill, Perdue Testifies

“Frankly, I'd welcome” direct broadband funding in an infrastructure bill given “our need for ubiquitous broadband” in rural areas, Perdue testified: The administration made “no kind of designation” for specific broadband funding in its proposal in a bid to leave the issue up “to the bipartisan desires of the Congress.” Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross cited FirstNet deployments as a way of expanding broadband into rural areas with low population densities and pointed to low-orbit satellites as a “low-cost way of providing broadband on a broader basis.”

Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao said the administration decided “not to be prescriptive with legislative language” on funding as an “open show of cooperation” with Capitol Hill. Suggested funding mechanisms included in the Trump proposal, including additional use of road tolls, are “not the only option.” They were meant to spur “other creative” ideas like public-private partnerships and asset recycling, Chao said. “We're agnostic as to the methodology.”

Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., believes infrastructure remains “an area where bipartisan agreement should be achievable,” particularly given cooperation from ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla. “Both sides can come together on this," Thune said. “It can happen this year.” What's realistic at this point in the legislative cycle is legislation “that would constitute sort of a down payment on a bigger, more robust bill,” Thune later told reporters. “I think the key right now is whether or not we have sufficient resources to fund an infrastructure package.” Regulatory permit streamlining measures, another priority in the Trump plan, will “inevitably” be a “big part” of a final bill, Thune said. “I think that cleaning that process up will be a big part of whatever we end up doing.”

A Senate Commerce infrastructure package could include language from a draft bill Thune and Senate Communications ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, are circulating that aims to ease barriers to 5G and other broadband deployments (see 1710310057 and 1711240024), Thune said. The draft got opposition from some state and local governments because of language that would pre-empt state, local and tribal laws that are seen by some as barriers to deployments (see 1712070075). Thune also cited FAA reauthorization and the American Vision for Safer Transportation Through Advancement of Revolutionary Technologies (AV Start) Act (S-1885) among other possible elements in a legislative package. “The question is how big or robust it is depends entirely on how much funding is available,” he said.

Nelson and other Democrats called for more specificity from the administration on infrastructure funding. Nelson cited Senate Democrats' recently proposed $1 trillion infrastructure proposal, which includes $40 billion in direct broadband funding, as a possible solution. “We can't toll our way” out of infrastructure problems, he said. Sens. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and Gary Peters, D-Mich., were among those who also questioned the administration's funding approach. “Until this administration comes forward with an actual concrete plan as to how we pay for” an infrastructure package, “let's be honest with the American people,” he said. “This is just smoke and mirrors.”

Thune and Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., sought reassurances from Perdue about Agriculture's overseeing broadband programs, with Thune saying the department “did not effectively administer” those programs' loans and grants during President Barack Obama's administration. “We're interested and willing to be supportive of broadband deployment in rural areas but we don't have the information, in my view, that tells us where best that money could be spent,” Moran said. He later cited instances in which funding from Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service has been used to “overbuild” broadband infrastructure.

The federal government hasn't deployed its broadband funds in a strategic way, in part because of ongoing issues with the collection of broadband coverage data, Perdue said. Agriculture is working with the FCC and NTIA to ensure “we've got the facts on the ground,” he said. Ross cited “extensive and intimate collaboration” among the FCC, NTIA and others to “avoid duplicative spending” and improve broadband map accuracy. Moran noted concerns that Senate Communications members raised Tuesday about the FCC's broadband maps (see 1802270043 and 1803130056).

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, aired continued concerns about a draft memo from the National Security Council that proposed the U.S. build a national 5G network, selling access on a wholesale basis to carriers. All five FCC commissioners and many top lawmakers have slammed the idea (see 1801290034, 1801300039 and 1802120011). “It would be a grave mistake” to nationalize 5G, Cruz said: “I think you would face very significant resistance” to such a proposal in both houses. Ross acknowledged the proposal had been “widely circulated” within the administration, cautioning that officials made “no final decision.” Administration officials “regard 5G as quite essential” to the U.S.'s economic and national security interests, Ross said. “Everybody is focused on the utter importance of 5G.” Trump barred Broadcom from continuing its takeover bid for Qualcomm earlier this week because of concerns the deal would be detrimental to U.S. leadership in 5G development (see 1803120060), and the would-be buyer said Wednesday it dropped the deal (see 1803140057).