President Biden's Broadband Plan Runs Headlong Into ‘Buy American’ Mandate

President Joe Biden made clear in his 2023 State of the Union address that as the US spends billions of dollars on new broadband connections, “we’re going to buy American.” But that aspiration is easier said than done. While there seems to be enough domestic fiber optic cable to connect communities, the electronic components such as routers that transform glass strands into data highways are made mainly in other countries. Cable providers, chip makers and wireless carriers are pleading for relief from the requirement to “buy American,” saying they can’t build new networks without foreign electronics. Otherwise the broadband buildup that Biden has set as a priority will be delayed by years as domestic sources are developed. The Build America Buy America Act was enacted as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2021, and requires any infrastructure projects to use domestically sourced materials in order to receive federal assistance. That applies to the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program (BEAD), the flagship Biden initiative for building new networks to connect the 30 million Americans the administration estimates are without fast internet service. Broadband has been seen as a necessity nearly on par with electricity or water since the Covid-19 pandemic shuttered schools and offices, making a fast internet connection a prerequisite for education and work for millions of people. Biden has estimated that 35% of rural America still doesn’t have access, placing a huge disadvantage on a large swathe of the population.