Analysis

Part 2 of Keller and Heckman's series exploring provisions of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act dissects a portion of the Act allocating an additional $1 billion for middle-mile broadband infrastructure projects. Middle-mile infrastructure does not provide service directly to end users but is critical for expanding reliable broadband service into unserved and underserved areas.

Free Press compiled a fact sheet on internet service provider (ISP) investments before, during and after the restoration and then repeal of broadband internet's classification as a telecommunications service under Title II of the Communications Act during the tenure of former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai. Here are the highlights:

President Joe Biden’s trillion-dollar infrastructure bill promises the largest public investment in telecommunications in the country’s history. Of the $65 billion allocated for high-speed internet—broadband—$42.45 billion is earmarked specifically for deployment projects through state grants.

Heartland Forward's work through Connecting the Heartland in the coming months and years will be anchored in four guiding principles:

Having waited patiently for the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, now people want to know what happens next—when will we all get our broadband? For now, the action shifts from Congress to key federal agencies that will implement the broadband provisions of the new law.

Among the $65 billion allocated to broadband in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (the Act), $42.45 billion will be used to fund a last-mile broadband development grant program administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The scale of this investment is unlike anything seen before in US history.

Technology and innovation have long been known to be key drivers of growth allowing companies and countries to better compete. The recent US infrastructure bill aims to foster such growth by providing for investments in digital infrastructure. However, these investments are nearly exclusively focused on better and more accessible broadband.

One way to decrease the importance of nomination fights is to reduce the power of agencies by shifting the locus of legislative decision-making back where it belongs — in Congress. Article I, Section 1 of the Constitution — the document’s very first substantive provision — establishes that “All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States.” Today, most policy decisions are made not on Capi

Late November 5th, the House of Representatives passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). The bill now goes directly to President Biden’s desk, where it will certainly become law. America finally has a generation-defining infrastructure bill—and if the reconciliation budget comes through, too, America will begin a building spree larger than what happened during the New Deal. When landmark legislation like IIJA gets passed, it’s easy to overemphasize victories on Capitol Hill. But that’s not the case for infrastructure. Passing IIJA is only the end of the beginning.

The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA)'s new “Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin” on “Risk of Potential Adverse Effects on Radio Altimeters” stated airplane communications and safety features could be affected by the Federal Communications Commission's roll-out of 5G, scheduled for December 2021 but now delayed until January 2022.