Lawmakers Weigh Wicker's Funding Gambit for Broadband Mapping

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Lawmakers are broadly receptive to concerns Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) is raising about the accuracy of Federal Communications Commission broadband maps. But most are not ready to commit to supporting Wicker’s attempt to hitch language to the year-end government funding bill to force the FCC to revisit the mapping. Congress is looking to wrap up its final fiscal 2019 funding measure by Dec. 21. Although Senate appropriator Jon Tester (D-MT) quickly endorsed the idea, others say they are still assessing. “Senator Wicker’s going to be the chairman of the Commerce Committee next year, and if I was the FCC, I’d be listening closely, and I would hope we could send a strong message and some ability to get the mapping to where it’s reliable,” said Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), a senior appropriator and member of GOP leadership. “It’s just so unbelievably unreliable.” Sen Blunt said he would want to talk to Sen Wicker about specifics but seemed potentially open to the right measure. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS), another appropriator, “still has concerns” about the FCC’s initial mapping aimed at determining eligibility for Mobility Fund subsidies, “but he looks forward to seeing how the challenge process may have improved the map,” a spokesman said. House Commerce Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) will “certainly be reviewing the challenge process with my colleagues. The fact of the matter is we can’t just rely on carrier submitted data, which is why I supported mapping funds for NTIA in the appropriations package last spring.”


Lawmakers Weigh Wicker's Funding Gambit for Broadband Mapping