Rep. Barton calls for investigation of broadband stimulus spending

Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), Chairman Emeritus and senior Republican on the Energy and Commerce Committee, delivered the following opening statement Thursday at the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet's hearing entitled: "ARRA Broadband Spending"

"Thank you Mr. Chairman for holding this important hearing. As Chairman Emeritus, I firmly stand with Chairman Upton and Subcommittee Chairman Walden in further investigating the broadband spending in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

The Recovery Act provided $4.7 billion to the National Technology and Information Administration (NTIA) to create the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) and $2.5 billion to the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) to create the Broadband Incentive Program (BIP). These programs were created to extend broadband service to those rural areas that were without service.

Unfortunately, it has been brought to the attention of Congress that both programs have not been administered as efficiently as possible and both have either awarded rural areas with grants that already have access to broadband or have completely eliminated their requirement to only target areas without broadband service.

I believe that broadband technology has the potential to create jobs, fundamentally alter our economy, and improve the quality of life for many Americans. While I was in support of the President's efforts to focus on expanding broadband technology, this is an issue that deserves great oversight and accountability to ensure that taxpayer dollars are being spent efficiently. As Ranking Member of this committee, I was intent on questioning both the RUS and the NTIA in their handling of the $7.2 billion allocated to them for implementing the broadband award programs established by the Recovery Act. In March of 2009, I sent a letter to both RUS and NTIA to recommend that we prioritize funds towards projects in States where broadband mapping was complete; towards unserved areas before underserved areas; towards projects that were sustainable without additional government funding; and toward projects that were most cost-effective. Because of my steadily increasing concern, I sent another letter in December of 2009 to encourage both organizations to use greater oversight when awarding grants and use more efficient metrics to decide on awardees.

We owe it to the American people to ensure that their hard-earned dollars are being used as efficiently as possible. If the law mandates that a program has a specific purpose, I believe that we must honor the law and have integrity in our implementation of the law. I look forward to hearing from our witnesses and working to create greater oversight of the broadband spending in the Recovery Act."

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