Wisconsin Republicans on the state Joint Finance Committee rejected a motion from Democrats to make a $400 million investment in the Broadband Expansion Grant Program, which would seek to deliver high-speed internet to rural or unserved areas.
The rejected motion came in response to delays from the Commerce Department’s review of the BEAD program, which Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers objected to, reports the Washington Examiner.
State Senator Romaine Quinn, (R-Birchwood), pushed back on Evers’ proposed $400 million investment, saying it was “never realistic to begin with.”
“Four-hundred-million dollars, that’s not even real,” Quinn said. “We literally can’t spend $400 million and get that much fiber in the ground based on the providers we have or the construction crews we have.”
Wisconsin had expected to receive more than $1 billion in BEAD money based on need, according to Evers, reports the Washington Examiner. Evers said in a statement that 39 percent of Wisconsin residents lack access to affordable internet and there are 262,000 locations considered “unserved” in the state as of December 2024.
“I’m proud [of what] my administration has done…to expand high-speed internet more than any other administration in state history, but we have a lot of work to do,” Evers said.
“With the Trump Administration delaying broadband funding Wisconsin expects to receive–over my objections–the $400 million investment I proposed to help expand high-speed internet is critical,” Evers said.
NTIA recently released new BEAD application rules that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said are streamlined. NTIA required states to re-apply for BEAD funding, and rescinded awards made under the Biden administration, Inside Towers reported.
Senator Julian Bradley, (R-New Berlin), said Wisconsin needs a better broadband plan if it’s going to be invested in at all. “When we start talking about connecting people to the last mile, we’re going to need to expand beyond the traditional methods that are used today in broadband,” Bradley said. “We have got to stop just upgrading and spending focus and money on trying to make it look like we’re doing more for broadband than we actually are.”
Bradley concluded, “We have to actually connect people. We need to have more focus and until we have a plan to do that, gutting this out of the budget and rejecting this is the right thing to do.”
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