Among the foremost threats to individual freedom in America is the abusive and oftentimes lawless behavior…
CFIF on Twitter CFIF on YouTube
More Legal Shenanigans from the Biden Administration’s Department of Education

Among the foremost threats to individual freedom in America is the abusive and oftentimes lawless behavior of federal administrative agencies, whose vast armies of overpaid bureaucrats remain unaccountable for their excesses.

Among the most familiar examples of that bureaucratic abuse is the Department of Education (DOE).  Recall, for instance, the United States Supreme Court’s humiliating rebuke last year of the Biden DOE’s effort to shift hundreds of billions of dollars of student debt from the people who actually owed them onto the backs of American taxpayers.

Even now, despite that rebuke, the Biden DOE launched an alternative scheme last month in an end-around effort to achieve that same result.

Well, the Biden DOE is now attempting to shift tens of millions of dollars of…[more]

March 19, 2024 • 08:35 AM

Liberty Update

CFIFs latest news, commentary and alerts delivered to your inbox.
Home Press Room Coalition Urges Rigid Oversight of USDA Broadband Loan Program
Coalition Urges Rigid Oversight of USDA Broadband Loan Program Print
Tuesday, May 22 2012

In a letter sent today to the United States Senate, the Center for Individual Freedom ("CFIF") joined with a coalition of nine leading free market and taxpayer organizations in urging rigid oversight of the Rural Utilities Service (“RUS”) Broadband Loan Program. 

The program, which is run out of the Department of Agriculture, was designed to subsidize broadband infrastructure and service in remote rural areas of the country that are supposedly underserved.  But as the letter notes, “RUS has had a history of approving loans to companies who build broadband systems in areas that are already served.  And, the areas where these companies build are often already served by multiple private broadband providers.”

The coalition argues that “an end to the broadband ‘stimulus’ would be best.”  Barring that, however, “rigid oversight - of the sort not yet exhibited by RUS – of how our billions of [taxpayer] dollars are spent” is imperative.

The letter, which was spearheaded by the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, can be read below or downloaded here (.pdf).


May 22, 2012

United States Senate                                                     
Washington, D.C.

Dear Senator,

As the Senate completes work on the reauthorization of the Farm Bill, the undersigned groups urge you to ensure that there is strict oversight for the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) Broadband Loan Program to prevent taxpayer funded over building on established broadband networks.

We would prefer the government leave the private sector broadband market alone, and save us taxpayers the money.  It has flourished in the absence of government "assistance," already delivering service to over 98 percent of Americans.  An end to the broadband "stimulus" would be best.  Barring that, rigid oversight - of the sort not yet exhibited by RUS – of how our billions of dollars are spent must be emplaced.

RUS has had a history of approving loans to companies who build broadband systems in areas that are already served.  And, the areas where these companies build are often already served by multiple private broadband providers.

RUS’s Rural Broadband Access Loan and Loan Guarantee Program was established by Congress as part of the 2002 Farm Bill, and modified as part of the 2008 Farm Bill.  Its primary goal is to provide loans to help bring Internet broadband service to unserved rural communities, which are generally defined as communities with populations of less than 20,000.

A March, 2009 report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) observed that while the 2008 Farm Bill modified the broadband program and narrowed the definition of “rural area,” the  RUS continued to issue loans in exurban and suburban areas. Instead of funding deployment in unserved rural areas, the RUS had funded service in 148 communities which were within 30 miles of cities with 200,000 inhabitants, including communities near very large urban areas such as Chicago and Las Vegas.

That same report reiterated that the Office of Inspector General (OIG) remained concerned that the existing broadband program may not meet the Recovery Act’s objective of awarding funds “to projects that provide service to the most rural residents that do not have access to broadband service.”

According to a report by the USDA on April 23, 2012, “We found that RUS had not maintained its focus on rural communities most in need of Federal assistance. This is largely because its definition of ‘rural area,’ although within the statutory guidelines, was too broad to distinguish between suburban and rural communities. As a result, RUS issued over $103.4 million in loans to 64 communities near large cities.”

Not only does this misuse of taxpayer dollars do little to help the areas of the country that still don’t have broadband, but it also causes private broadband providers to reconsider the build-out and upgrade of their systems, when faced with not only private competition but frequently also a government subsidized competitor.

In the interest of taxpayers and ensuring a vibrant free market in broadband deployment, the Farm Bill needs to provide tough oversight of any taxpayer funds that are used to over build systems.

Sincerely,

David Williams, President, Taxpayers Protection Alliance                                                 

Duane Parde, President, National Taxpayers Union

Tom Schatz, President, Council for Citizens Against Government Waste                                                                              

Seton Motley, President, Less Government

Stephen DeMaura, President, Americans for Job Security                                                        

Phil Kerpen, President, American Commitment

Grover Norquist, President, Americans for Tax Reform                                      

Jeff Mazzella, President, Center for Individual Freedom

Ryan Alexander, President, Taxpayers for Common Sense

Related Articles :
Notable Quote   
 
"Americans do not trust several major U.S. institutions, including the national news media.The recently released Center Square Voters' Voice poll found that 43% of Americans say the media is trustworthy, compared with 54% who said it is not trustworthy.Younger people were more likely to trust the media, with 47% of those ages 18-34 saying they trust it and 46% saying the opposite.The numbers steadily…[more]
 
 
— Casey Harper, The Center Square
 
Liberty Poll   

Do you believe the U.S. Supreme Court will ultimately reject the new Biden administration automobile emissions rule as beyond the scope of administrative agency authority?