Rural Broadband in Stimulus Package Getting Trimmed
By Miryam Ehrlich Williamson
From today’s New York Times:
A bipartisan group of senators worked furiously in backroom negotiations on Thursday to cut the cost of the more than $920 billion economic stimulus plan. Senate Democratic leaders said they would await the outcome of those talks before calling for a final vote on the measure, perhaps on Friday.
Members of the bipartisan group, led by Senators Ben Nelson, Democrat of Nebraska, and Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, said they wanted to trim provisions that would not quickly create jobs or encourage spending by consumers and businesses. They spent much of the day scrutinizing the 736-page bill and wrangling over what to cut.
By early evening, aides said the group had drafted a list of nearly $90 billion in cuts, including $40 billion in aid for states, more than $14 billion for various education programs, $4.1 billion to make federal buildings energy efficient and $1.5 billion for broadband Internet service in rural areas. But they remained short of a deal, and talks were expected to resume Friday morning.
“We’re trying to focus it on spending that truly helps stimulate the economy,” Ms. Collins said. “People have different views on whether or not a program meets that test. So we’re continuing to talk. We get close, and then it drops back, and then we get close again.”
How anyone can say that building broadband capacity in rural areas will not stimulate the economy is beyond me. I’m putting Sen. Collins’ contact information here. Perhaps you’ll contact her and tell her what it’s like to use dialup internet.
Susan M. Collins (Republican, Maine)
202-224-2523, e-mail
It’s probably true that taking $1.5 billion out of a $9 billion item isn’t a death blow, but it we don’t show the Republican Senator that we’re serious about needing this infrastructure, the rest of the $9 billion is likely to go when the Senate and House committees get together to resolve their differeces.
It will only take a minute to pick up the phone and leave a message, or send an e-mail. The Republicans need to hear from us.
Posted on February 6th, 2009 by Miryam Ehrlich Williamson
Filed under: Uncategorized
Done.
The cut is actually $2 billion, (not. $1.5 billion) and there is another $100 million cut in the distance learning line item.
Maine is 59.8% rural, the second most rural state in America. Here is how the stimulus package would benefit the Pine Tree State
http://dpc.senate.gov/docs/states-fs-111-1-11/me.pdf
[...] has been cut from the 9 Billion originally slotted for rural broadband. You can read more at The Back Forty. Getting rural broadband access is just half the battle, as the Daily Yonder rightfully points out. [...]
[...] clean energy. We are dedicated to identifying and overcoming political barriers to that transition.The Back Forty Rural Broadband in Stimulus Package Getting …Senate Democratic leaders said they would await the outcome of those talks before calling … [...]