The House Energy & Commerce Committee's Communications Subcommittee will hold a hearing Feb. 10 to discuss the billions in broadband stimulus money doled out by the departments of commerce and agriculture.
Republicans in control of Congress have voiced concern regarding how the money was spent and how the agencies protected those investments from waste, fraud and abuse. In advance of the hearing, Republicans plan to circulate draft legislation designed to "increase accountability" for the stimulus spending and "return unused or reclaimed broadband stimulus funds to the U.S. Treasury."
The Commerce Department's National Telecommunications & Information Administration's Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) and the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service (RUS) handed out about $7 billion in grants and loans for broadband deployments in unserved and underserved areas.
For more:
- see this Broadcasting & Cable article
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