Utah Dem Proposes Gutting Broadband Grant Program

The reason the amendment was submitted to H.R.1(the main gov't budget bill) was because the pgm is just another duplicate Dept of Agriculture initiative that is also covered by USF funding of the same agency. The deficit has encouraged even supporters of rural broadband like Matheson to look for duplicate gov't spending pgms and eliminate them.

It's interesting but unsurprising to learn that there's a duplicate program.

My husband, who works for the state of MI, continues to be outraged by the wasteful spending inherent in programs that have both state and federal funding. Because policy says the funds can't be intermingled, that means that there must be *two* software programs, *two* computer systems, etc. Talk about expensive redundancy!

Here in Michigan, we have medical programs that cover children, the poor, underinsured and uninsured. The problem is there are 43 of them! If you don't qualify for one, odds are there will be at least a few you do. And, of course, each program has it's own paperwork burden and workers to maintain it.

Your husband would be laid off if they got rid of all that wasteful spending.....

If you save money in 1 program, another program will just get that appropriation. Every politician has his pork.

Glad to see a politician who gets it. Even eliminating a duplicate of an unneeded federal program is a good first step.

meh I worry about first the jobs that its going to cut from the ending program, as well as if this is going to interfere with other states that might get the bright idea of going at it on their own at the detriment of the customers. I'm hoping in the end everyone gets mandatory download speeds of at least 50Mbps and upload speeds of at least 20Mbps. It's about time that the United States gets back on top with the leaderboards for worlds fastest.

Sure.. the United States needs to kick it up a notch and get back in the lead - but that doesn't mean we need to spend public money to do it.es to arriving at your destination. Government has the ability to regulate and place condition on the business to ensure they are serving the public good. We don't need to give them money to do it.. we just need to set rules in which the corporate charters are allowed to exist.

There are FAR too many people that do not agree with spending money just to make jobs. That's LUNACY! You want to know what that gives you? GM, Dodge, WISCONSIN and OHIO!

By the way.. tribal lands, right? Let the tribes pay for it. They wanted to be a sovereign nation, well, that means they need to fund their own needs. If they can't survive on their own and want help from the United States or Utah, then they can maybe look at selling their land back to the U.S. or Utah and realize that the war is over and we won, not them.