Broadband Stimulus Should Require Maps First, Say Congressmen

If two Members of Congress get their way, the awarding of stimulus money for broadband projects would be contingent upon completion of broadband mapping. Reps Cliff Stearns (R-FL) Joe Barton (R-TX) recently suggested that only local governments in states with completed maps of broadband coverage should receive stimulus money for broadband projects. The congressmen argue that a map of coverage would ensure the stimulus money included in the Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 goes to areas that are actually lacking broadband. "The likelihood of waste, fraud and abuse increases if you act before having the benefit of this information," Reps Stearns and Barton wrote in a letter to the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service, the two agencies distributing federal stimulus money for broadband. The FCC also received the letter.