"Rural broadband czar" Kamala Harris fails to link anyone to high-speed internet despite $42B budget

By bellecarter // 2024-08-02

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Back in 2021, President Joe Biden assigned Vice President Kamala Harris to oversee the administration's $42 billion program on rural broadband expansion. However, nearly 1,000 days later, the "rural broadband czar" has not yet connected anyone to the promised high-speed internet. Commissioner Brendan Carr of the Federal Communications Commission called the Democratic presumptive presidential nominee out in a post on X regarding her role. "Hundreds of broadband infrastructure builders are now sounding the alarm, writing that the $42 billion plan to expand internet has been wired to fail," Carr wrote. "President Biden put VP Harris in charge of this effort back in 2021 and 982 days later not [one] person has been connected." The Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program, which allocated $42.45 billion to support broadband infrastructure and adoption, was established by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. It was passed by Congress in 2021, which only means that the said program has had little success in the two years since Biden passed the bill. Carr as well as multiple internet service providers and lawmakers on Capitol Hill contend the Biden-Harris government's burdensome regulations, including climate change mandates, union worker requirements and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies caused the halt in the expansion of rural internet access. "The Biden Administration is barreling towards a broadband blunder. Congress has appropriated enough money to end the digital divide, but the Biden Administration is squandering the moment by putting partisan political goals above smart policy," Carr said. "It is doing so through rate regulation, through union, technology and DEI preferences and a thumb on the scale for government-run networks. All of this threatens to leave rural communities behind." Carr has also warned that the Biden-Harris government estimates claiming the program is on track to break ground in 2025 and see substantial progress by 2026 are overly optimistic. According to him, the projects overseen by Harris won't be near completion until 2030. In another entry on X, Carr attached a video of Harris talking about the significance of time in her speech. "When you think about it, there is great significance of the passage of time in terms of what we need to do to lay these wires, what we need to do to create these jobs. And there is such significance to the passage of time when we think about a day in the lives of our children and what that means to the future of our nation, depending on whether or not they have the resources they need to achieve their God-given talent." "0 Americans have been connected. 0 shovels worth of dirt turned. Is that 'the passage of time' that VP Harris had in mind?" Carr said in his July 19 X post. Several X users reacted to Carr's posts with some even comparing the high costs of the project to Starlink's connection. "My Starlink costs about $1440 per year. For $42B that would fund about 29,166,666 subscribers a year," one person said. Another user reacted with: "Such a disaster! They should have used common sense and gone with a tried and true provider, like Starlink." A handle named Dashing Dot pointed out: "My rural county is supposed to be wired up by 2026. They've run the main fiber optic line in my area and large swaths of the county but not one house has been wired up. I've been saying for some time that this will turn into another government boondoggle. And boom this pops up!"

Kamala to announce running mate a day before her first political rally

Meanwhile, Harris is set to hold her first rally with her new vice presidential nominee on Aug. 6 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Harris is expected to announce the decision on Aug. 5, sources said. The shortlist of candidates she is considering to complete her "ticket" includes Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. (Related: MEET OBAMALA HARRIS: Get ready for Kamala Harris to announce her Vice President pick from the swamp while Obama attempts to serve his 4th term.) After Philadelphia, Harris and her vice presidential pick will travel to six other locations, including western Wisconsin, Detroit and Las Vegas, the campaign said in a statement, adding that Harris has "made no decision on a running mate." Harris needs to decide soon as she was given an Aug. 7 deadline by the Democratic National Committee. Eric Holder Jr., the former attorney general who led the vice presidential vetting process for former President Barack Obama in 2008, is vetting Harris' picks through his law firm Covington & Burling. Discover more about the latest news on Kamala Harris's presidential bid on KamalaWatch.com. Watch the video below where Lara Trump says Harris could be "more dangerous than Biden." This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com.

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Kamala to announce running mate a day before her first political rally

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