TechFreedom, FSF Criticize $40B Bridge Act

The refiled Broadband Reform and Investment to Drive Growth in the Economy Act drew criticism last week. S-2071, billed as a bipartisan alternative to infrastructure proposals, would allocate $40 billion for broadband (see 2106150089). The measure “ignores the massive amount of money that the federal government has allocated, but not spent” via the FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, emergency broadband benefit program and Emergency Connectivity Fund, said TechFreedom General Counsel James Dunstan Friday: “Then there’s the $360 billion in the last stimulus bill, potentially all of which could be used for broadband. The spreadsheet on NTIA’s BroadbandUSA website shows almost 100 different federal projects with money” available. The Free State Foundation also slammed S-2071. Incompas CEO Chip Pickering and Mignon Clyburn, co-chair of the new BroadLand campaign for the group, said the bill's refiling "sends a strong message to the rest of the world that the United States will indeed be ready for the jobs of tomorrow."