Kamala Harris by Gage Skidmore
A coalition of lawmakers led by Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) has delivered a sharp rebuke to Vice President Kamala Harris for her failures as “broadband czar” for the Biden administration.
In a letter released today, Republicans members of the Senate Commerce Committee have taken aim at Harris’s “mismanagement of federal broadband initiatives,” arguing that her poor leadership has rivaled her historic failures as “border czar.”
The letter was also signed by Senators Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), and Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.).
Despite Harris’s past promises to deliver high-speed broadband to rural communities, lawmakers noted that the Vice President’s “poor performance and lack of effectiveness” have allowed “significant broadband investments” to be underutilized. As the letter reminded Harris, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) has awarded $42.45 billion for the Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program to strengthen rural broadband networks. Unfortunately, the implementation of this ambitious program has left much to be desired.
In 2021, after she was tapped by President Biden to lead the administration’s deployment campaign, Harris confidently declared that “we can bring broadband to rural America today.” Despite initial bravado, Harris’s stint as “broadband czar” has proven underwhelming for many expectant customers, with BEAD deployment progress routinely stymied by administrative setbacks. After more than three years, countless communities are still waiting for broadband access. The letter reminds the Vice President that “under your leadership, not a single person has been connected to the internet using the $42.45 billion allocated for the BEAD program.”
Lawmakers have attributed a portion of the BEAD program’s dysfunction to the alarming politicization of the broadband deployment process. The letter correctly notes how the Biden-Harris administration has constructed “partisan, extralegal requirements that were never envisioned by Congress and have obstructed broadband deployment.” Through excessive mandates such as broadband rate regulation and prioritizing government-owned networks over private investment, lawmakers have charged that the Biden-Harris administration “has caused unnecessary delays, leaving millions of Americans unconnected.”
As Americans for Tax Reform has previously reported, after over one thousand days since the enactment of the BEAD program, precisely zero homes have been connected to high-speed broadband through federal funding. Under a potential Harris administration, administrative glut and partisan funding requirements will surely continue as hallmarks of the BEAD program.
As the letter concludes, the Biden-Harris administration’s “lack of focus on truly connecting the unconnected has failed the American people and represents a gross misuse of limited taxpayer dollars. The American public deserves better.” Americans for Tax Reforms applauds Republican lawmakers for highlighting Vice President Harris’s failures as “broadband czar” while demanding accountability for the dysfunction of the BEAD program.
Click here to read the full letter.