Vice President Biden Announces Recovery Act Investments in Broadband Projects to Bring Jobs, Economic Opportunity to Communities Nationwide

Vice President Biden today (August 18) announced 94 Recovery Act investments in broadband projects that will create jobs and expand economic opportunities within 37 states.  These investments in high-speed Internet infrastructure will help bridge the technological divide in communities that are being left in the 20th century economy and support improvements in education, healthcare, and public safety.  Today’s announcement, an investment totaling $1.8 billion, is part of a nearly $7 billion Recovery Act initiative.

“Today's (August 18) investment in broadband technology will create jobs across the country and expand opportunities for millions of Americans and American companies. In addition to bringing 21st century infrastructure to underserved communities and rural areas, these investments will begin to harness the power of broadband to improve education, health care, and public safety,” said Vice President Biden. “The awards are another great example of how the Recovery Act is creating jobs upfront, while also building a foundation for sustainable job creation and global competitiveness.”

The projects receiving funds today are part of a program – administered by the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) – to expand broadband access and adoption across the country.

“The broadband investments announced today(August 18) are going to put people to work in the near term, but they also will lay the groundwork for sustainable economic growth down the road,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said. “These projects will connect Americans who have for too long been without the full economic, educational and social benefits of high-speed Internet access – access central to success in the 21st Century.”

“The broadband projects announced today(August 18) will give rural Americans access to the tools they need to attract new businesses, jobs, health care and educational opportunities,” Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack said. “The Obama Administration understands that bringing broadband to rural America provides a gateway for businesses and key anchor institutions – such as libraries, schools, public safety and community centers – to provide services to thousands of Americans. These projects will create jobs building these networks, and the completed systems will provide a platform for rural economic growth for years to come.”

Today’s(August 18) announcement includes 66 grants awarded by the Commerce Department for projects to deploy broadband infrastructure and connect community anchor institutions to broadband, create and upgrade public computer centers, and encourage the sustainable adoption of broadband service.  It also includes 28 awards from USDA for broadband infrastructure and satellite projects that will provide rural residents in 16 states and Native American tribal areas access to improved service.

The Department of Commerce awards also contain grants for public safety broadband networks that will improve response times and communication at the scene of emergencies.   These projects constitute a critical set of demonstration projects and a head start on President Obama’s commitment to support the development of a nationwide, interoperable public safety wireless broadband network.  

According to an analysis released by the National Economic Council last year, overall Recovery Act investments in broadband are expected to create tens of thousands of jobs in the near term and expand economic development and job opportunities in communities that are being left behind in the new knowledge-based economy. Recovery Act broadband projects help bring down the cost of private investment, attract Internet service providers to new areas, improve digital literacy among students and workers, and help create new opportunities in employment, education, and entrepreneurship by wiring homes and businesses. With new or increased broadband access, communities can compete on a level playing field to attract new businesses, schools can create distance learning opportunities, medical professionals can provide cost-efficient remote diagnoses and care, and business owners can expand the market for their products beyond their neighborhoods to better compete in the global economy.

Funding is contingent upon the recipient meeting the terms of the loan, grant or loan/grant agreement.  A complete list of projects receiving Recovery Act broadband grant awards today(August 18) can be viewed in full.

President Obama signed The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 into law on February 17, 2009. It is designed to jumpstart the nation’s economy, create or save millions of jobs, and put a down payment on addressing long-neglected challenges so that the country can thrive in the 21st century. The Act includes measures to modernize our nation’s infrastructure, enhance energy independence, expand educational opportunities, preserve and improve affordable health care, provide tax relief, and protect those in greatest need.


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Coffee, Controversy and Connectivity: Why Internet Cafes Concern Governments

/PRNewswire/ -- The Digital Policy Council (DPC), an international, non-partisan "think tank" on 21st Century Governance, investigates the swirling controversy around internet cafes across the globe as these establishments are sprouting into hot spots for illicit gambling, teenage gaming, terror e-mails, and other nefarious activities.

The DPC is the research and public advocacy arm of Digital Daya ('digital influence'), a new generation strategic consultancy that empowers leaders in the public sectors to leverage the new media of the Internet to communicate their message, build public influence, and execute high-impact programs to reshape governance and public policy.

According to The Digital Policy Council's most up-to-date research, governments around the world are struggling to regulate the growing number of cybercafes in their communities and whether open or autocratic, all authorities are intensifying surveillance and enforcements tactics to try and gain control over the situation.

Time For New Policy Actions

Governments at first deeply encouraged Internet cafes as a means to offer access to modern technology to its citizens and create opportunities for social and economic development. They are now heavily retreating from this idea. Internet cafes have failed as a tool for public policy.

The vast majority of Internet cafes are in reality now merely online gaming and gambling arcades. Many have become integral to government counter-terrorism strategies as heavy surveillance of these establishments is creating an unnerving atmosphere wherein people are afraid. The aspirations for cybercafes as places of innovation, inspiration, and inclusion into the digital economy have faded away.

As an alternative, the report encourages governments to consider investing in specifically designed internet-based innovation centers to promote e-literacy, build human capital, and broaden access to information technology.

Join the discussion at http://www.squidoo.com/internet-cafes-trouble-governements

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Americans for Prosperity Slams FCC's Internet Takeover Attempt

/PRNewswire/ -- Phil Kerpen, vice president for policy at Americans for Prosperity (AFP), released the following statement in response to the Notice of Inquiry announcement today by the Federal Communications Commission:

"Today marks a troubling and dangerous step forward in the Federal Communications Commission's ongoing effort to take over the internet. The FCC's Notice of Inquiry is an aggressive step in their reckless effort to force decades-old Title II public utility regulations on Internet providers.

"Such a radical change undoes a remarkable decade of success with a free-market, hands-off Internet. No wonder we have seen mounting bipartisan opposition to reclassification from consumers worried about the impact Title II would have on innovation and competition, small businesses worried about a sudden drop in investment, and free-market allies worried about the increased role of the federal government in internet policy.

"Despite the outcry from nearly 300 Democrats and Republicans, President Obama's FCC is determined to regulate. We therefore urge Congress to step in immediately to stop the Commission's dangerous efforts to get regulatory control of the Internet."

AFP's new website -- www.NoInternetTakeover.com -- provides information and tools for Americans to engage their members of Congress on this critical issue.

Americans for Prosperity(TM) (AFP) is committed to educating citizens about economic policy and mobilizing those citizens as advocates in the public policy process. AFP is an organization of grassroots leaders who engage citizens in the name of limited government and free markets on the local, state and federal levels. The grassroots members of AFP advocate for public policies that champion the principles of entrepreneurship and fiscal and regulatory restraint.

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FCC Moves Toward More Government Regulation of the Internet

/PRNewswire/ -- According to reports, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genacowski will seek to reclassify broadband services under New Deal-era "common carrier" laws created for early landline telephone technology, thereby allowing the government to regulate the Internet via outdated rules. In response, Center for Individual Freedom's Vice President of Legal and Public Affairs Timothy Lee issued the following statement:

"The FCC should not attempt to apply archaic 1930s rules to 21st century technologies. This move by Chairman Genacowski will do nothing but stifle innovation, investment and growth within the broadband sector.

"Reclassifying broadband will merely allow the government to intervene in a thriving Internet market and hamper the constant service improvement and innovations to which consumers have become accustomed. It's the proverbial 'solution in search of a problem.' This bald partisan move also ignores all of the new technologies that are available precisely due to limited government intervention, and will ultimately move us backward to old-fashioned rules that once governed telephone services in the early 20th century.

"With everything else going on, do we really need a government take over the Internet?"

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State Legislators Say Net Regulation Will Hurt Investment and Jobs

/PRNewswire/ -- The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has delivered a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) opposing proposed network neutrality regulation. The state lawmakers expressed serious concerns that the unintended consequences of the proposed federal regulatory expansion into the Internet will harm states' economies. ALEC's letter was signed by 91 legislators from 36 states.

Connecticut State Representative Bill Hamzy serves as Chair of ALEC's Telecommunications & Information Technology Task Force and is the lead signatory of the ALEC letter opposing network neutrality regulation. "Federal regulation of broadband networks is the wrong way to spur the kind of technological innovation and financial investment in broadband infrastructure that will bring sustainable job growth to state economies. Since the FCC cannot even point to any existing problem with the Internet, it should say 'no' to network neutrality regulation," he said.

The ALEC letter described the proposed network neutrality regulation as "an unprecedented foray into government control of broadband private networks and the Internet" that could result in economic slowdown and setback in the states. "If adopted, extensive regulatory control and uncertainties will harm innovation, stifle investment, and curtail job growth. We believe that unintended consequences stemming from the draft rules will be detrimental to our states' economies and forestall marketplace recovery."

In 2007, ALEC adopted a Resolution on Network Neutrality that calls on the federal government and states to refrain from imposing such regulation.

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is the nation's largest nonpartisan, individual membership organization of state legislators.

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