Within two weeks Congress will consider a massive investment bill that includes an infusion of $6 billion for broadband and $650 million to get the government's cash-strapped DTV coupon program back up and running. It's part of a $550 billion proposal that House Appropriations Committee Chair David Obey (D-WI) calls the only way to handle the nation's financial crisis.
"The economy is in such trouble that, even with passage of this package, unemployment rates are expected to rise to between eight and nine percent this year," Obey declared in a press statement released Thursday. "Without this package, we are warned that unemployment could explode to near twelve percent."
The "American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009" is designed to create and save between three and four million jobs, Obey says, "and begin the process of transforming [the United States] for the 21st century." It is also packed with tech- and science-related investment programs. The broadband plan will target high speed Internet access "so businesses in rural and other underserved areas can link up to the global economy." And the proposal includes $10 billion for science and research.
"We need to put scientists to work looking for the next great discovery, creating jobs in cutting-edge-technologies, and making smart investments that will help businesses in every community succeed in a global economy," the proposed law's summary explains. There's also $32 billion allocated for the development of renewable technologies, $31 billion to make public facilities more energy efficient, $10 billion for transit and rail construction, and $19 billion for water purification, flood control, and environmental restoration programs.
Not surprisingly, questions are coming in fast about how this tsunami of money will be spent, especially regarding broadband. Obey's statement promises that the appropriations bill will come with "unprecedented accountability." Programs with "proven track records" will be favored for the cash. Information about the grantees will be published on a Web site. The Government and Accountability Office will get funding to watch the programs. And the package comes without earmarks.
But the advocacy group Free Press has already filed comments on the broadband aspect of the plan. The group says it's happy about the bill, although it doesn't think $6 billion is enough. Beyond that concern, it wants Congress to require any new network funded by this program to adhere to open access and nondiscrimination principles, or possibly open them to providers at wholesale access rates. In addition, some government agency must oversee the program to "enforce concrete administrative accountability."
Ditto say Public Knowledge and the Open Internet Coalition, which rushed their press releases to Ars shortly after Obey released his summary of the bill. Everybody's praising this proposal, up to a point.
"We will monitor this process carefully to help ensure policymakers finance truly open and high speed Internet access and the money produces new construction," OIC's statement concludes. "Resources should be spent on creating high speed fiber networks. And funds should be prohibited for upgrades of existing equipment; priority should go to reach people who don't have access to broadband currently, and who are not covered by pre-existing build-out plans."
As for the net neutrality and open access ideas; well, they're already in the bill (see p. 53). NTIA, the executive branch agency tasked with disbursing the broadband money, is required to ensure that all grant recipients operate both wired and wireless services on an "open access basis," though it's left up to NTIA to define what this means and how it works.
In addition, anyone taking grant money must "adhere to the principles contained in the Federal Communications Commission's broadband policy statement," which lays out four basic neutrality provisions for Internet companies. In other words, although "network neutrality" isn't mentioned, it's already in the bill in a basic way. (Note that the FCC policy statement only protects "legal content," however; it's not a pure "end-to-end" packet delivery guarantee.)
As for the DTV money, $650 million is a nice chunk of change, but Obey's bill doesn't get it to the coupon program fast enough. Congress should just pass an emergency law waiving restrictions on how much money the National Telecommunications and Information Administration can spend on the program over the next three months. This is an emergency situation that can't wait for Capitol Hill to figure out how the rest of the development package will be spent.
