Republican Congressmen Criticize NTIA, FCC Absence at Farm Bill Hearing
‘Their absence is noted, and it illustrates their indifference towards the needs of rural Americans and our rural communities.’
David B. McGarry
WASHINGTON, September 19, 2022 – Two Republican congressmen criticized the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Federal Communications Commission for their absence at Thursday’s Agriculture committee hearing on the dispersal process for federal broadband funds.
In his opening statement, Ranking Member Glenn Thompson, R-Penn., said that the NTIA and FCC were invited to testify before the committee but declined. “Their absence is noted, and it illustrates their indifference towards the needs of rural Americans and our rural communities,” said Thompson. Rep. Rick Allen, R-Georgia, also panned the NTIA and the FCC for failing to appear.
“The question is: Are they dodging coming here today because they don’t want to be accountable for their flawed record?” Thompson told Broadband Breakfast, adding a Republican-controlled Congress may be more aggressive in its oversight of the two agencies. The midterm elections are in November.
“If given the opportunity to chair this committee…should that happen, the next time we ask them to come here it will be with a subpoena,” Thompson said. “We’ll put some teeth behind it.”
In addition, Thompson said during the hearing that the United States Department of Agriculture – which runs the ReConnect broadband program – is the best-suited agency to administer rural broadband deployment – not the NTIA or FCC. “I don’t have a lot of trust in NTIA or FCC. They received significant dollars back under the stimulus [act] back in 2010 and they failed to bridge the digital divide,” he said during the hearing.
“I remain disappointed that USDA was largely excluded from playing in its essential role, a role that it plays very effectively…in bringing broadband…into rural communities,” Thompson added. “It is the best situated agency to help rural providers serve their communities.”
Contacted by Broadband Breakfast, the NTIA and FCC did not respond to a request for comment.
The NTIA was allotted $42.5 billion by the Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act to distribute to the states for that end. The federal government has also been rolling out American Rescue Plan Act funding to the states, which are actively being used to address gaps in connectivity.
At the hearing, Xochitl Torres Small, Agriculture’s undersecretary of Rural Development, and Chris McLean, acting administrator for the Rural Utilities Service, emphasized the importance of interagency information and best-practice sharing in mapping, funding, and network deployment efforts.
“We meet with the FCC, NTIA, and the Treasury on a biweekly basis – and frankly, regularly more often – both to establish a regular cadence of communication and to work through those sticky issues,” said Small.
Farmers need broadband
The hearing was held as the committee prepares the 2023 “farm bill,” which will be the latest in a series of agricultural investment packages that originated in the 1930s. Farm bills are often passed at five-year intervals, and exact provisions of each farm bill vary as time passes and circumstances change. The latest farm bill, the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, included funding for conservation initiatives, crop subsidies, crop-insurance support, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
The Agriculture committee must shepherd the 2023 farm bill to President Joe Biden’s desk before the 2018 package expires in September 2023.
Garrett Hawkins, president of the Missouri Farm Bureau, testified to the broadband needs of farmers. “Today’s farmers and ranchers, we use precision [agriculture] techniques to make decisions that impact everything from fertilizer to the amount of water that’s needed for our crops to the amount and type of herbicides that are applied,” Hawkins said. “These are just a few examples of how farmers are using connectivity to bump yield, improve environmental impact, and increase profitability.”
Eric Slee, Wireless Internet Service Providers Association’s vice president of government affairs, issued a statement Thursday supporting the Agriculture Committee’s work. “WISPA strongly encourages Congress to work toward a Farm Bill that among other things targets broadband funding to truly unserved locations on a tech-neutral basis, and avoids duplication of services financed by private and federal resources,” the statement said.
