President Obama to Nominate FCC's Adelstein to run USDA's Rural Broadband Fund

President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate current Federal Communications Commission member Jonathan Adelstein to be the Administrator for the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) at the United States Department of Agriculture. The RUS will issue grants, loans, and loan guarantees to increase the availability of broadband in rural areas. The RUS also provides financing for water, waste, electric and other telecommunications projects. Commissioner Adelstein has served at the FCC since 2002 and was confirmed to a second term in 2004. Previously, he served for fifteen years as a staff member in the US Senate, including his final seven years with Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD), advising him on telecommunications, financial services, housing, transportation and other key issues. Prior to that, he served as Professional Staff Member to Senate Special Committee on Aging Chairman David Pryor (D-AR), including an assignment as a special liaison to Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), and earlier as a Legislative Assistant to Senator Donald W. Riegle, Jr. (D-MI). Before his service in the Senate, he was a Teaching Fellow in the Department of History, Harvard University, while studying at the Kennedy School of Government, and a Teaching Assistant in the Department of History, Stanford University, and as a Communications Consultant to the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Commissioner Adelstein