Bredesen's Broadband Broadside

As Tennessee voters head to the polls, Senate candidate Phil Bredesen (D) is taking aim at Rep Marsha Blackburn’s legacy on broadband. In a recent campaign ad, former-Gov Bredesen calls out the House Telecommunications Subcommittee chair for having “voted against $600 million in broadband initiatives.” At issue: Blackburn’s March 2018 vote against the sprawling omnibus government funding bill that contained a series of committee-negotiated tech legislation central to Blackburn’s panel. She attributed her opposition to “Washington’s spending problem.” By opposing the measure, Chairman Blackburn voted against her own package, known as Ray Baum’s Act, which reauthorized the Federal Communications Commission and included spectrum legislation (Mobile Now) and hundreds of millions of dollars to help TV broadcasters move to new airwave channels. Still, Chairman Blackburn is touting her accomplishments. If Rep Blackburn beats out Bredesen, expect her to bring her agenda of slashing telecom regulations, like the FCC’s broadband privacy rules, to the Senate.