Executive
Waste of the Day: $42 Billion Internet Investment Goes to Wealthy Areas
A $42 billion program for broadband internet, ostensibly for underserved areas, is going instead to wealthy areas.
When the Biden Administration recently announced a record $42 billion investment in broadband internet, it was pitched as an investment in rural and underserved communities. A new study, however, found many of these funds went to wealthy, urban areas because of a questionable allocation methodology, according to Fox News.
The Broadband Equity Access and Development program was marketed as a way to “ensure that everyone in America has access to affordable, reliable high-speed internet,” with an emphasis on underserved areas with spotty or expensive internet coverage.
A new report from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), however, found that not all of these funds went toward these goals. To decide how much each state would receive in these funds, the White House identified areas that lacked broadband internet in each state, with more areas lacking internet meaning more funding for the state.
Washington, D.C. was assessed as having 184 areas lacking internet, but 58 of them, almost one-third of the locations, were located in the Smithsonian National Zoo, raising questions about D.C.’s funding. In Delaware, a location designated as lacking internet was the Biden Environmental Training Center, a conference and retreat facility near President Biden’s home.
Funding in these dense, urban areas flies in the face of the original intent of the program, which was to bring internet coverage to rural and underserved areas. D.C. and Delaware were allotted over $547,000 and $52,000, respectively, for each location without broadband access, while the national median allocation for areas without connectivity averages $5,600 per location.
In other cases, wealthy areas received funding. Tuckernuck Island in Massachusetts will receive federal funding for broadband, despite mansions in the area selling for over a million dollars. Additionally, the area already receives ample internet coverage, just not of the kind this program aims to promote.
Making taxpayers in Kentucky and South Dakota pay for internet investments in D.C. and Delaware is unethical and counterproductive, but that’s exactly what this program seems to have accomplished.
The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com
This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.
Adam Andrzejewski (say: Angie-eff-ski) was the CEO/founder of OpenTheBooks.com. Before dedicating his life to public service, Adam co-founded HomePages Directories, a $20 million publishing company (1997-2007). His works have been featured on the BBC, Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight, C-SPAN, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, FOX News, CNN, National Public Radio (NPR), Forbes, Newsweek, and many other national media.
Today, OpenTheBooks.com is the largest private repository of U.S. public-sector spending. Mission: post "every dime, online, in real time." In 2022, OpenTheBooks.com captured nearly all public expenditures in the country, including nearly all disclosed federal government spending; 50 of 50 state checkbooks; and 25 million public employee salary and pension records from 50,000 public bodies across America.
The group's aggressive transparency and forensic auditing of government spending has led to the assembly of grand juries, indictments, and successful prosecutions; congressional briefings, hearings, and subpoenas; Government Accountability Office (GAO) audits; Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports; federal legislation; and much more.
Our Honorary Chairman - In Memoriam is U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, MD.
Andrzejewski's federal oversight work was included in the President's Budget To Congress FY2021. The budget cited his organization by name, bullet-pointed their findings, and footnoted/hyperlinked to their report.
Posted on YouTube, Andrzejewski's presentation, The Depth of the Swamp, at the Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar 2020 in Naples, Florida received 3.8 million views.
Andrzejewski has spoken at the Columbia School of Journalism, Harvard Law School and the law schools at Georgetown and George Washington regarding big data journalism. As a senior policy contributor at Forbes, Adam had nearly 20 million pageviews on 206 published investigations. In 2022, investigative fact-finding on Dr. Fauci's finances led to his cancellation at Forbes.
In 2022, Andrzejewski did 473 live television and radio interviews across broadcast, major cable platforms, and radio shows. Andrzejewski is the author of The Waste of the Day column at Real Clear Policy. The column is syndicated by Sinclair Broadcast Group, owners of nearly 200 ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX affiliates across USA.
Andrzejewski passed away in his sleep at his home in in Hinsdale, Illinois, on August 18, 2024. He is survived by his wife Kerry and three daughters. He also served as a lector at St. Isaac Jogues Catholic Church and finished the Chicago Marathon eight times (PR 3:58.49 in 2022).
Waste of the Day articles published after August 18, 2024 are considered posthumous publications.
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