Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Senate Democrats criticize Bush broadband policy

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2004 06:56:49 -0400

Senate Democrats criticize Bush broadband policy
By HEATHER FORSGREN WEAVER
April 26 12:38:00, 2004

WASHINGTON-Several Democrats, including Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), the presumptive presidential nominee, sent a letter Friday to President George W. Bush criticizing his broadband policy.
"Simply stating a goal is not enough. Without aggressive and concrete action, we are concerned that the goal will not be met," wrote the senators. "The administration has not only undermined existing programs, it has not offered any positive alternatives. For example, we have supported tax credits for broadband deployment, as Sen.  Jay Rockefeller (D.W.V.) has been proposing for several years, but you have not included any comparable proposal in any of your budgets or tax-cut packages. Nor have you exercised vocal leadership on regulatory, tax or other issues relating to broadband."
President Bush said recently that he wants universal broadband deployment by 2007. Kerry has said he wants to create jobs by investing in broadband.
Neither politician gave specifics, but the Senate Democrats did by singling out the Rural Broadband Program.  "Unfortunately, the record of your administration thus far has not embraced even modest steps to promote broadband usage and access. For example, Congress has provided over $2 billion in loan authority for rural broadband loans by the Rural Utilities Service, RUS has only distributed about $132 million in funding. Over $1 billion in loan requests sit pending at RUS, yet rather than looking for ways to streamline processing, RUS has created hurdles in the loan application process," reads the letter.
Wireless providers wishing to serve rural America with broadband connections-defined as 200 kilobits per second in each direction-were given a leg up when Congress included language in the farm bill to create a broadband loan program administered by the Rural Utilities Service.
The rural broadband loan program, which will offer low-interest loans, is good news for broadband wireless providers but there is a catch. The RUS fancies itself as a conservative bank so it does not want to jeopardize existing loans. To protect current borrowers, RUS allows them a two-year right-of-first refusal. Some in the wireless community have complained that this is discriminatory.

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