Citizens Against Government Waste Express Concerns About Trump Rural Infrastructure Plan

Citizens Against Government Waste has a bone to pick with President Donald Trump's infrastructure plan, which leaves the distribution of $50 billion in rural infrastructure seed money to the states and localities. In a letter to Office of Manqagement and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, CAGW, joined by Americans for Tax Reform and others, said that while they generally support states spending money over the feds, they are worried about the potential for waste, fraud and abuse and duplication of spending given the focus on rural broadband.

They point to the problems with the 2009 stimulus bill's $7.2 billion in broadband funding, which included understaffing, inadequate evaluation of grants and lack of oversight, which were identified by the Government Accountability Office and the Commerce Department's Inspector General. The National Telecommunications & Information Administration, which is within Commerce, oversaw the distribution of some of the funds. Among the questions they want Mulvaney to answer are whether there will be a specific agency overseeing rural infrastructure funds, how it will measure whether the plan's goals are being met, how will the feds make sure that the states are not using the funds to overbuild existing private-sector efforts.