Congressional Republicans aim to streamline broadband expansion

Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., aims to use her position as House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair to offer solutions to "the Biden administration's inaction leading to wasteful and ineffective spending on telecommunications infrastructure" during a hearing this week.

"Rather than simply assuming the solution is spending more money and standing up new programs, we need to step back and take a hard look at how we've spent the funds we've already invested and what lessons we can learn," said McMorris Rodgers during a previous hearing that highlighted a report from the Government Accountability Office.

The GOA report noted that "Federal broadband efforts are fragmented and overlapping, with more than 133 funding programs administered by 15 agencies. Among these programs, 25 have broadband as their main purpose, and 13 of those programs overlap because they can each be used for the purpose of broadband deployment," before going on to highlight that "no current national strategy exists to provide clear roles, goals, objectives, and performance measures to synchronize the numerous interagency coordination efforts."

That report concluded, saying that the Biden administration "was considering if a national strategy was needed."

McMorris Rodgers hopes to create something closer to a national strategy in the 28 bill package being marked up Wednesday by the Communications and Technology Subcommittee.

"We need to remove barriers, streamline the permitting process, and deploy broadband faster and more effectively – especially in the wake of a disaster – while ensuring a record amount of taxpayer money does not go to waste," said McMorris Rodgers in a statement issued by her office in advance of Wednesday's hearing.

The phrase 'in the wake of a disaster' is a nod to her own Wildfire Wireless Resiliency Act, one of the 28 bills on the docket for markup.

"We look forward to considering these bills that will help streamline the permitting process and deploy broadband faster and more effectively, which will help Americans get connected in communities across the country," said Rodgers along with Subcommittee Chair Bob Latta, R-OH, in a joint statement prior to the hearing.

A complete list of the 28 resolutions being considered can be found on the Energy and Commerce Committee website.