When Big Business Married Big Government

When liberals look back on the Biden presidency, they may hail its greatest accomplishment as ushering in a new era of corporate government dependency. Without fail, and no matter the industry, the administration has hooked businesses on Washington handouts while attaching conditions that put taxpayers and consumers on the hook for leftist policy preferences. Broadband providers volunteered to become charges of the government when they backed the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which included $42.5 billion in grants for states to build high-speed broadband plus $14.2 billion in subsidies for low-income Americans to purchase internet service plans. Here the Commerce Department is imposing political conditions on the cash. Broadband providers will have to pay union wages, commit to not opposing unions, and use project-labor agreements between unions and contractors that govern terms and conditions of employment. Commerce’s grant-funding guidelines also suggest that states require broadband providers to open up their networks to competitors as a condition of support. The administration is trying to socialize the internet through a funding back door.