Broadband Stimulus Funds Bring Debate Over Distribution; Package Moves to Vote

Funding for broadband deployment makes up approximately one percent of President Obama's approximately $820 billion economic stimulus package. But a hearty debate has unfolded over how, where, and to whom those funds should be distributed. After a late-Friday deal that keeps the momentum going on negotiations in the Senate, a vote to cut off debate on the broader package was expected on Monday, to be followed by a final Senate vote on Tuesday. As regards the Senate's $9 billion proposed for broadband - a sum that CNN and The New York Times reported had been cut to $7 billion - the heart of the debate was over who would receive the billions of dollars in funding for broadband deployment. The House-passed bill split its $6 billion for broadband between $2.825 billion in grants to be made from the Commerce Department and $2.825 billion in loans to be made by the Agriculture Department. An additional $350 million would go to administering the new grants at Commerce. By contrast, the Senate bill would put the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration in charge of channeling almost all of the $9 billion in Thursday's version of the Senate bill. That Senate version also allowed for some of those funds to be transferred to the Agriculture Department, or the Federal Communications Commission, subject to various preconditions.