May 10, 2018

U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Representative,

On behalf of the more than one million members and supporters of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, I urge you to strike Section 6102 from the 2018 Farm Bill, which would grow government and create a new broadband grant program within the Rural Utilities Service (RUS).

Title VI, Section 6102 would provide funds for broadband deployment in rural areas of the country.  It is understandable that Congress would seek ways to expand broadband in rural America. However, the program would authorize an additional $350 million for a grant program, without any significant oversight, beyond the more than $600 million already authorized for the RUS in the Omnibus appropriations bill.

To be eligible for this new grant program, an applicant must request both a loan and a grant from RUS.  This requirement will discourage many providers from applying for the grant program, limiting the potential to obtain its objectives. Requiring an applicant to apply for an associated loan to obtain a grant will also lead to more duplicative overbuilding. Carriers who currently receive broadband funding in the form of grants from RUS are ineligible to receive the new grant funding in that project area. 

While bridging the digital divide between rural and urban America is critical, rather than creating new grant programs that duplicate existing programs, and encourage overbuild within already served regions, lawmakers should strengthen their oversight of the RUS to ensure that funding already designated to help expand broadband to unserved areas is spent effectively. Therefore, I urge you to strike Section 6102 from the Farm Bill.

Sincerely,

Tom Schatz
President, CCAGW

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