House Commerce Leaders Request GAO Review of Federal Efforts to Close the Digital Divide

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and leading committee Reps Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Mike Doyle (D-PA), and Bob Latta (R-OH) wrote to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) requesting a review of how improved interagency coordination can help streamline broadband deployment and close the digital divide, as well as what progress agencies are making toward these efforts. "Closing the digital divide remains a shared, bipartisan goal," said the letter. "As leaders on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, we have been focused on finding ways to remove unnecessary barriers that impede broadband deployment so that all Americans have access to affordable high-speed broadband service." The representatives included the following four questions in their request to the GAO:

1. “How are the relevant federal agencies planning to implement NTIA’s recommendations from October 2020 and what is the status of their efforts?
2. “How is NTIA overseeing the efforts of the relevant federal agencies and coordinating with them on implementing these recommendations? 
3. “What challenges do NTIA and the relevant federal agencies face in implementing the recommendations, and how are these challenges being addressed?
4. “To what extent have broadband providers faced additional, federal permitting or siting costs in areas where federal permitting processes have not been streamlined, and what is the extent of those costs?”