Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman John D. Dingell (D-MI15) made the following comments about the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communication and Technology hearing on legislation meant to improve oversight of federal broadband infrastructure grants:

“I commend Chairman Walden for his ongoing interest in ensuring proper administration and oversight of federal broadband infrastructure grants,” said Dingell.  “The legislation pending our review today is clear evidence of this commitment.  I wish to stress, however, that if the Congress imposes additional burdens on the Departments of Agriculture and Commerce, they must have sufficient resources with which to carry out such burdens.  Our failure to do so will jeopardize the effectiveness of these federal broadband grants and compromise the Administration’s ability to avoid waste, fraud and abuse.  With this in mind, I wish to express my support for the President’s FY 2012 budget request for these activities, which would cost less than one percent of the total portfolio of grants being overseen.   I believe that providing these oversight resources is a matter upon which my colleagues on both sides of the aisle can agree.”

Established by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Department of Agriculture’s Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) and the Department of Commerce’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) award federal grants to expand broadband infrastructure to unserved and underserved areas of the United States.  Merit Network, Inc., a Michigan company based in the 15th congressional district, is the recipient of over $100 million in BTOP grants to extend broadband Internet infrastructure to anchor institutions and underserved areas in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.  
 

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