Remarks of Commerce Secretary Raimondo to Senate Appropriations Committee on Broadband Programs in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act

"I’m grateful for the opportunity to update you on our progress as we prepare to launch these programs in a little more than 100 days," said Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to the Senate Appropriations Committee in a February 1 hearing on expanding broadband access through programs established in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. "The law has built-in flexibility to address each states' specific needs," said Raimondo, stressing that there will not be a one size fits all approach to distributing funding through programs like the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program. "Under the law, each state will get a minimum of $100 million, and the remaining money will be allocated by need, based primarily on the number of unserved households," she said. "States will be given initial planning funds that they can use to develop a five-year action plan, in collaboration with local and regional entities, to cover everyone in their state."

Secretary Raimondo highlighted the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)'s stakeholder engagement efforts "to help inform the development and implementation of the broadband programs" the department is tasked with running. The NTIA has held "three virtual, public listening sessions" with stakeholders about the upcoming programs, and has also "issued a request for comment to gain further input on program design, policy issues, and other implementation considerations." All told, Raimondo said the Commerce Department believes the $65 billion in broadband funding will create between 100,000 and 200,000 jobs as reported by Fierce. To help fill those positions, she said NTIA is allowing states to use their BEAD money to do apprenticeships, job training and recruiting. Raimondo told Senate appropriators that the Federal Communications Commission has said to expect more accurate broadband maps by summer 2022, as reported by Politico.