President Joe Biden will kick off a week of events billed by the White House as a major push to promote “Bidenomics” with an announcement on Monday of how the federal government plans to divvy up nearly $42.5 billion to build out high-speed internet networks.
(Bloomberg) — President Joe Biden will kick off a week of events billed by the White House as a major push to promote “Bidenomics” with an announcement on Monday of how the federal government plans to divvy up nearly $42.5 billion to build out high-speed internet networks.
Biden and his aides are seeking to refocus attention on the president’s legislative accomplishments as his reelection campaign begins in earnest – but polls show lagging voter enthusiasm for his bid.
The broadband event in the White House’s East Room is the first in a nationwide tour of top administration officials highlighting projects, grants and public-private partnerships funded through legislation passed during Biden’s presidency. On Wednesday, the president will give a speech in Chicago on the impact of his policies on the US economy.
“In the weeks and months ahead, the President, members of his Cabinet, and senior Administration officials will continue fanning out across the country to take the case for Bidenomics and the President’s Investing in America agenda directly to the American people,” senior Biden advisers Anita Dunn and Mike Donilon said in a memo released by the White House.
But Monday’s event, billed by the White House as a “significant announcement,” in some ways reinforces the challenges the president and his staff face.
Biden will announce awards to US states and territories under the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program, created by his infrastructure law to fund planning and deployment of internet to communities lacking high-speed access.
But states will still have an opportunity to challenge the federal awards over the next six months. The first tranche of funding – slightly less than $8.5 billion – won’t be doled out until December. The remaining $34 billion won’t be distributed until spring 2025 — after the presidential election.
Furthermore, there’s concern that “Buy American” requirements in the legislation could hobble or delay the efforts, because there aren’t enough of the electronic components like routers needed for advanced fiber networks produced domestically.
Internet service providers who are vying for the program’s subsidies have asked the federal government to relax those requirements, but doing so would violate Biden’s pledge to spur a domestic manufacturing renaissance.
Read more: Biden’s Buy America Rule Crimps Broadband Plan on Lack of Parts
Those complications could help explain why a Washington Post-ABC News survey earlier this year found that 62% of Americans believed Biden has accomplished “not very much” or “little or nothing” during his presidency, while just 36% say he has accomplished “a great deal” or “a good amount.”
The White House is hopeful that the latest push will help remind voters of the president’s economic accomplishments.
While voters regularly express concerns about Biden’s age, his senior advisers noted that his signature legislative accomplishments share broad bipartisan approval. His speech this week is intended to stress that the post-pandemic recovery has particularly benefited the manufacturing sector, as well as poor and middle class Americans.
“The core pillars of the President’s economic plan are not only delivering results and growing our economy from the bottom up and middle out — they are also strongly supported by the American people,” Dunn and Donilon wrote in the memo.
Read more: Biden’s Broadband Plan Is Bold but Economic Payoff Unclear
Biden spoke regularly during the previous campaign about the indignity suffered by students who didn’t have high-speed internet at home for virtual instruction during the pandemic. He plans to champion the moment as the beginning of a transformation for rural outposts, Native American reservations and farms that have long lacked access to reliable high-speed internet.
“This is just one example of President Biden rebuilding the backbone of America,” White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients said in a call with reporters.
Each state, along with the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, is guaranteed at least $100 million under the initiative. The remaining funding will be allocated based on new maps drafted by the Federal Communications Commission that found some 7% of the nation was unserved by high-speed internet.
Zients acknowledged an eagerness by Biden to speed the rollout of federal programs and “make sure that people feel that at their kitchen table.”
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