House Republicans Take New Aim at Broadband Subsidies

House Republicans were not big fans of the Obama Administration's broadband stimulus grants and loans, and a new Congress has not changed anything. That includes an ongoing investigation into overbuilding claims levied by Mediacom, according to committee staffers.

According to the majority staff memo for the Feb. 27 oversight hearing on broadband stimulus funding, the House Commerce Committee’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee is currently investigating allegations by Mediacom that the Lake County (MN) government is using $66 million to overbuild Mediacom, and was able to do so by submitting inaccurate information. A representative of the project was not available for comment at presstime. Of course, Republicans were critical in general of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), but the House Communications Subcommittee leadership, which is holding an oversight hearing on the funding this week, was particularly focused on the chances for overbuilding, waste, fraud and abuse in the $7 billion program.