Baucus proposes cutting broadband stimulus funds

Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.) has proposed cutting $600 million in stimulus funds for the expansion of broadband Internet access, according to a blog post by Public Knowledge Legal Director Harold Feld.

According to Feld, Baucus proposed cutting about $300 million from the Department of Commerce’s Broadband Technology Opportunity Program and $300 million from the Department of Agriculture’s Broadband Initiatives Program to fund extensions of unemployment benefits and various other stimulus programs. Feld writes that House Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) has proposed similar cuts as part of the supplemental funding for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

“While I certainly don’t begrudge extending unemployment benefits ... I absolutely question the wisdom of pulling funding from stimulus programs that are not only creating jobs now, but helping to build infrastructure we need for a productive future,” writes Feld.

“How far we’ve fallen from a year and a half ago when then-administration broadband spokescritter Blair Levin promised that the $6 billion for broadband stimulus was only a down payment for the administration’s investment in broadband infrastructure.”

The Recovery Act included more than $7 billion aimed at increasing the adoption of broadband Internet access in rural and underserved areas. On Friday, President Barack Obama announced 66 new projects aimed at increasing broadband and computer access in under-served communities; the projects will be funded by stimulus dollars at a total cost of $795 million.