Vice President Kamala Harris, who was tapped to lead the administration's rural broadband expansion, failed to connect a single person to high-speed Internet despite having $42.5 billion from the so-called infrastructure
During his 2021 State of the Union address, President Joe Biden touched Vice President Harris will lead the effort “because I know it will be done.”
Now in 2024, the Biden-Harris administration appears to have made little progress in getting Americans connected to high-speed Internet.
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Brendan Carr Commission noted in June that Biden and Harris failed to connect any Americans despite having access to $42.5 billion in funding from the so-called infrastructure bill, or the Infrastructure Jobs and Investment Act.
Carr noted on Wednesday: “President Biden put Vice President Harris in charge of that effort in 2021 and days later no one has connected.”
NEW: Hundreds of broadband infrastructure builders are now sounding the alarm, writing that the $42 billion plan to expand the Internet is wired to fail.
President Biden put Vice President Harris in charge of this effort in 2021 and 9️⃣8️⃣2️⃣ days later not a single person has connected. https://t.co/LFmYg12ZmX pic.twitter.com/BNjLaNG8mr
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) July 24, 2024
He added: “Hundreds of broadband infrastructure builders are now sounding the alarm, writing that the $42 billion plan to expand the Internet is wired to fail.”
Breitbart News informed:
Carr is specifically criticizing the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, which assigned $42.45 billion to support broadband infrastructure and adoption.
The program was established by the Jobs and Infrastructure Investment Act (IIJA), also known as the so-called bipartisan infrastructure law. The bill had no conservative wins and had plenty of left-wing barks, such as Breitbart News detailed.
Congress passed the infrastructure bill in 2021, which would mean the BEAD program has seen little success in its two years since Biden approved the bill.
Carr claimed in June that much of the Biden administration's failure to expand broadband is due to its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) goals.
“The Biden Administration is headed for a broadband blunder. Congress has appropriated enough money to close the digital divide, but the Biden administration is wasting time by putting partisan political goals above of smart policy,” explained the FCC commissioner. “It does this through rate regulation, through DEI bundling, technology and preferences, and through a thumb on the scale for government-run networks. All of these threaten to leave rural communities behind.”
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.