First appearance on Fox: President Biden’s multibillion-dollar rural broadband internet investments primarily favor wealthy blue cities and states, according to a new report from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). It also includes areas with million-dollar homes and waterfront properties, he said.
According to the report, obtained exclusively by Fox News Digital, $42.45 billion in Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funding has been allocated and “despite repeated requests from lawmakers and communities across the country.” Regardless,” it turns out, it has been assigned to scrutinize how the Biden administration’s telecommunications sector is operating. Collect data to inform funding decisions.
2024 Democratic front-runner Biden introduced the program in June as part of his “Bidenomics” campaign to promote economic policy ahead of the 2024 election.
Each state, including Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, received a base amount of $100 million, and the remaining territories received at least $25 million each. Texas and California, the two most densely populated states in the country, lead the funding rankings with $3.3 billion and $1.9 billion, respectively.
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Texas Sen. Ted Cruz releases “Bidenomics” broadband internet investment report.
But this allocation is going to states with fewer unserved areas, and given some unusual cases in how the funds were allocated, this allocation raises eyebrows. .
According to the report, of the 184 locations without broadband internet in Washington, D.C., 58 are concentrated within the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, which includes popular attractions such as the Butterfly Garden, Lion and Tiger Hill, and Otter Pond. include.
Another example of strange distribution is Delaware, which received about $108 million from the Biden administration in June to address 2,166 underserved areas in the state. Ta.
Among these unserved locations is the Biden Environmental Training Center, a state-run facility for conferences, training and retreats located just 18 miles north of Rehoboth Beach.
Washington, D.C., and Delaware, both small and densely populated, allocated more than $547,000 and $52,000, respectively, to areas without broadband access. The national median allocation for unconnected areas averages $5,600 per location.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Cruz said, “Providing such a disproportionate amount of funding to Washington, D.C., where there appear to be so few unserved areas, is a truly unserved area of the country.” “It would divert BEAD funding from areas where it doesn’t exist.”
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On August 15, 2023, President Biden arrives aboard Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. (Andrew Caballero Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)
The program also does not take into account whether areas will soon be served by funding from other federal programs already in place, resulting in more than 5 million areas receiving extra funding. I decided to receive it.
“As a result, billions of taxpayer dollars sent to these states will be diverted to purposes other than connecting underserved Americans,” Cruz wrote.
The federal government also supports fiber broadband, also known as fiber optic broadband, which is an Internet connection that uses fiber optic cables made of thin strands of glass or plastic to transmit data using pulses of light. Masu. That’s no cheap feat.
“This bias will drive up costs and waste taxpayer dollars, especially if the Biden administration’s implementation of other programs sets a precedent,” Cruz wrote.
Authorities may also need to consider that alternative Internet technologies may be required in some areas.
The report cited Tuckernuck Island, Massachusetts, as an example, where properties are listed for more than $1 million. There is no wired internet on the island, but high-speed satellite internet is available. The FCC says it meets speed requirements set by Congress for funding.
However, the Biden administration’s rules do not consider technologies such as satellites to be “reliable broadband services.”
Because of this, the entire island could be considered a gap site and new internet infrastructure could be introduced despite already having good connectivity, the report said.
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President Biden speaks at an event at the Philadelphia Shipyard on Thursday, July 20, 2023, in Philadelphia. (Hannah Baier/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“BEAD’s lack of consideration of whether unserved locations really need taxpayer subsidies means that places like Tuckernuck will receive preferential expensive fiber optic service. ,” the report states.
“Furthermore, ‘unserved’ locations that receive taxpayer-subsidized fiber-to-the-home service include mansions, seaside resort communities, and mountain vacation homes,” the paper said.
In the United States, the Biden administration estimates that 8.5 million locations lack internet access.
Major broadband companies such as Verizon, Comcast, Charter Communications, and AT&T are reportedly hesitant to invest in serving sparsely populated rural areas due to higher costs and fewer potential customers.
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“The $42 billion Bidennomics broadband debacle is the latest example of federal bureaucrats aimlessly wasting taxpayers’ hard-earned money,” Cruz said in a statement to FOX News Digital. . “We can solve connectivity problems across the country, but that doesn’t mean we should spend our tax dollars closing the ‘digital divide’ at the National Zoo or at a beachfront vacation home on Nantucket Island.”
Cruz said the report, which has been sent to the White House, should serve as a “call to action” for the Biden administration to assess areas where there may be “duplicate” and “wasteful” spending. said. FOX News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.
