{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=82C2EFB9-AC93-40B6-913E-96F6C62D8AEF", "Thune: Harris\u2019s Tenure as \u201cBroadband Czar\u201d Nothing Short of a Disaster", "2024-09-24", "2024", "2024-09", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Click here to watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today called out Vice President Harris for mishandling $42 billion in taxpayer dollars for broadband expansion that was intended to connect Americans in rural areas to the internet. Thune noted that the administration continues to put Democrats\u2019 radical agenda ahead of the needs of the American people. Last week, Thune led his Republican colleagues in writing a letter to Vice President Harris demanding accountability for her gross mismanagement of taxpayer dollars.\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, as a senator from a rural state \u2013 and a former chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee \u2013 expanding broadband access to rural areas has long been a priority of mine.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve done a lot of work on this issue \u2013 which is precisely why I was so concerned when the infrastructure bill proposed $42 billion for rural broadband to be funneled through the Commerce Department\u2019s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, or NTIA.\n\n\u201cI was doubtful whether NTIA was capable of administering $42 billion, given its previous struggles to administer a fraction of that amount of money.\n\n\u201cAnd unfortunately those concerns have turned out to be well-founded.\n\n\u201cThe Biden-Harris administration\u2019s signature broadband initiative \u2013 and Vice President Harris\u2019s tenure as broadband czar \u2013 has been nothing short of a disaster.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s been nearly three years since the $42-billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment \u2013 or what we call the BEAD \u2013 program was established at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to provide broadband access to unserved communities.\n\n\u201cThree years.\n\n\u201cAnd in all of that time, Mr. President, the program has not connected a single household to the internet.\n\n\u201cLet me say that again.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s been nearly three years \u2013 and to be precise, 1,044 days \u2013 since the BEAD program was established \u2013 and in all of that time \u2013 over 1,000 days \u2013 the program has not connected a single household to the internet.\n\n\u201cThe logical question would be, \u2018Why?\u2019\n\n\u201cPlease tell us why.\n\n\u201cWell, Mr. President, it\u2019s a story, a sad story, of government inefficiency and progressivism run amok.\n\n\u201cInstead of focusing on delivering broadband services to unserved areas, the Biden-Harris administration loaded down the BEAD program with a liberal wish list of requirements that were never envisioned by Congress and have obstructed broadband deployment.\n\n\u201cClimate change mandates.\n\n\u201cPrioritizing government-owned networks over private investment.\n\n\u201cBiased technology mandates.\n\n\u201cPrioritizing the use of union labor.\n\n\u201cAttempts to impose price controls \u2013 in direct violation of the law.\n\n\u201cDEI hiring priorities.\n\n\u201cWhat should have been a straightforward application and approval process for building networks has become a literal morass.\n\n\u201cWhy, oh why, Mr. President, should rural telecoms in South Dakota be talking about climate change mandates in building out broadband networks to serve underserved people in rural areas of the country?\n\n\u201cAnd as if the list of woke requirements weren\u2019t enough, it has been matched by massive inefficiency from the administration.\n\n\u201cOne state official who recently testified before the Energy and Commerce Committee in the House had this to say about the program\u2019s implementation, and I\u2019m quoting here: \u2018States face a common issue \u2013 navigating the complex BEAD process. NTIA\u2019s functional requests are akin to building a plane while flying it without having the necessary instructions to be successful. NTIA has provided either no guidance, guidance given too late, or guidance changing midstream, all with a lack of appreciation for state operations and costs and the needs of our telecommunication providers \u2026\u2019\n\n\u201cAnother official from another state described BEAD as, and I quote, \u2018the most burdensome federal program\u2019 she has ever imagined.\n\n\u201c\u2018The most burdensome federal program\u2019 she has ever imagined, and worse yet, ever had to manage.\n\n\u201cGiven all this, I suppose it\u2019s no surprise that not only has broadband not reached even one household through the BEAD program, but construction projects haven\u2019t even begun.\n\n\u201cCurrent expectations for the start of construction on various BEAD projects range from sometime next year to sometime in 2026.\n\n\u201c2026.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re already at 1,044 days since this program was enacted.\n\n\u201cNot a single dollar has been allocated out of the $42 billion.\n\n\u201cWell, if this is what things look like with Vice President Harris as broadband czar, I shudder to think what things would look like if she were in charge of the entire federal government.\n\n\u201cMr. President, this isn\u2019t the first time I\u2019ve sounded the alarm on the implementation of the BEAD program and the burdensome and extralegal requirements the Biden-Harris administration has imposed.\n\n\u201cAnd I\u2019ve been joined in this by Commerce Committee ranking member, Senator Cruz, who shares my concerns, as well as other committee Republicans who share those concerns, as well.\n\n\u201cAnd I\u2019d like to see some of my Democrat colleagues taking a closer look at BEAD implementation and broadband implementation more generally.\n\n\u201cAs the BEAD program makes very clear, you can throw a lot \u2013 a lot, $42 billion, a lot \u2013 a lot of taxpayer money at a problem and still not get results.\n\n\u201cAnd I\u2019d like to see the Commerce Committee conduct a lot more oversight of the programs and agencies under its jurisdiction.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s been more than 1,500 days since the last Federal Communications Commission oversight hearing at the Commerce Committee.\n\n\u201cThe principal committee of jurisdiction over the FCC.\n\n\u201cIn fact, we haven\u2019t held a single FCC oversight hearing since Democrats took control of the Senate back in 2021.\n\n\u201cAnd despite the ongoing failure of the BEAD program at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, we haven\u2019t held a single hearing on NTIA yet in this Congress.\n\n\u201cAnd while I understand that highlighting the failure of the Biden-Harris administration\u2019s signature broadband initiative is probably not high on Democrats\u2019 priority list, our obligation to the American people \u2013 and our concern for the millions of Americans without broadband access \u2013 should put BEAD oversight at the top of the Commerce Committee\u2019s agenda.\n\n\u201cMr. President, the BEAD program\u2019s failure certainly highlights the fact that Vice President Harris has been no more effective as broadband czar than she has been as border czar.\n\n\u201cAnd it also points to larger problems with progressivism \u2013 like big promises but poor results, and the prioritization of liberal social fantasies over the needs of the American people.\n\n\u201cAnd I suspect that if Broadband Czar Harris becomes President Harris, the BEAD program will not be the last disastrous government program we see on her watch.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I yield the floor.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:46:43Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=82C2EFB9-AC93-40B6-913E-96F6C62D8AEF"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8479198440909386, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}