Broadband Program Oversight Questioned

Congress has targeted more than $6 billion to wire rural America with Internet service as part of the nearly $790 billion stimulus plan. But the bill would place much of those funds in an Agriculture Department program that has been criticized for its past management of grants, raising concerns among some public interest groups. Under a deal House and Senate leaders negotiated yesterday, about $1.5 billion would fall under the oversight of the USDA's Rural Utilities Service, a program launched in 2002 to connect farming towns to high-speed, or broadband Internet. Some public advocacy groups are critical, citing a September 2005 report on an investigation by the USDA's inspector general that found that $236 million, or more than one-quarter, of the program's loans under review "was either not used as intended, not used at all, or did not provide the expected return of service." The Secretary of Agriculture and some congressional supporters say the program has been changed to address the problems. Critics of the rural utilities service fund said the president's goal could be derailed by lax oversight at the USDA. They argue that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the tech-policy making arm of the White House, has expertise in administering large grants and is better suited to deal with wireless, fiber optics and cable modem service. "Putting broadband funds into the RUS is just a bad idea. You don't see the Federal Communications Commission putting dairy farms near telephone lines. It's just bad policy," said Ben Scott, policy director of public interest group Free Press. The bulk of the funds, $4.3 billion, would be administered by the NTIA, and Scott said all broadband funds should be consolidated under once agency.