Zero Out USDA’s Broadband Surplus

The great storyteller Aesop is credited with creating a popular fable involving flies and honey that can be summarized as, “It is possible to have too much of a good thing.” This lesson is directly on point for federal efforts to extend broadband networks to unserved Americans. At this moment, the Trump Administration is putting the finishing touches on the latest stage of the Commerce Department’s distribution of over $22 billion in broadband funding, which, if all goes according to plan, will bring terrestrial or satellite broadband to those without options. Yet the Department of Agriculture continues to operate separate broadband programs that serve the same or overlapping purposes. These may have been appropriate at the time of their creation or even beneficial, but now it is a case of having too much of a good thing, which will lead to management inefficiencies, or worse, outright duplication and corrosive network builds. Policymakers should immediately eliminate USDA funding. More directly, Commerce Secretary Lutnick should take the lead opposing the inclusion of overlapping USDA funds in any Farm Bill rewrite and in the upcoming appropriations process.

[Michael O’Rielly is a former FCC Commissioner and congressional staffer who serves as President at MPORielly Consulting.]