Senators Urge Biden Administration to Implement Broadband Expansion Funding in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act

Sens Joe Manchin (D-WV), Susan Collins (R-ME), Angus King (I-ME) and Rob Portman (R-OH) led 16 bipartisan Senators in encouraging the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Assistant Secretary Alan Davidson to follow Congressional intent in implementing the $65 billion included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) for broadband expansion efforts across the United States. "The IIJA provides unprecedented levels of funding for broadband directly to states," said the letter. "We knew in crafting these programs that this level of grant management would require additional capacity across the board—from NTIA to city halls. That’s why the law provides for a minimum allocation of $100 million to every state, a portion of which can be used to kickstart a robust planning process and technical assistance, allowing these funds to be used to stand up and build out state broadband offices, promote state-local coordination, increase mapping efforts, and improve the expertise and capacity at a local level.” On the Federal Communications Commission's work in updating federal broadband maps, the senators said, "We seek to impress upon NTIA the need to continue working with the FCC to move quickly on updating the maps, as the impact of this investment is reliant on their timely and accurate completion. In order to make sure the data we are utilizing for these broadband projects is as accurate as possible, we also included a robust challenge process to give states and localities, as well as providers, a voice in this process.”