Budget Hawk: Target Broadband Programs to Cut Wasteful Spending

WASHINGTON, Dec. 6, 2024 – Regulators looking to cut wasteful spending may be able to do so by cutting some of the numerous federal broadband programs that seem to be redundant.

Citizens Against Government Waste, a government efficiency organization based here, asserted in a Thursday blog post that some of the 133 federal broadband programs spread across 15 federal agencies may be unnecessary, noting that many programs duplicate each other’s efforts.

“It is time for these [broadband] programs to be scrutinized so taxpayers are no longer forced to pay for those that are inefficient and ineffective,” CAGW Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs Deborah Collier said. 

CAGW cited a May 10, 2023 Government Accountability Office report that of the 25 programs with broadband as their main purpose, 13 overlap in their goals. 

In response to these findings, CAGW emphasized the need for Congress and the newly established Department of Government Efficiency, under the leadership of Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, to consolidate federal broadband spending.