WASHINGTON — U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), ranking member of the Subcommittee on Communications, Media, and Broadband, and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) recently introduced the Accurate Map for Broadband Investment Act, bipartisan legislation to ensure that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has time to update and fix the deeply flawed National Broadband Map before the Department of Commerce fully allocates broadband infrastructure funding. This mapping plays a major role in determining state-by-state allocation of broadband infrastructure funding through the $42 billion Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment Program, and the current version of the map could cause many states to lose out on potentially hundreds of millions of dollars of federal funding they are owed under the law.

“It’s critical that NTIA distributes its unprecedented amount of new broadband funding to areas that are truly unserved,” said Thune. “In order to ensure these new dollars are being accurately allocated, NTIA must use up-to-date FCC broadband maps that account for a robust challenge process for states and individuals. Failing to do so could result in significant overbuilding, which would ultimately fall on the backs of hardworking taxpayers.”

“When I helped write the broadband section of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, I worked to make sure that communities across Nevada got their fair share of funding to increase access to high-speed internet. The FCC’s failure to fix their deeply flawed broadband map and the Department of Commerce’s refusal to wait to allocate broadband funding until the map is fixed puts hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for high-speed internet in Nevada at risk,” said Rosen. “My bipartisan bill would ensure the FCC can fix this map before money goes out the door, so that all states receive their fair share of federal dollars to provide communities desperately needed access to high-speed internet.”

Thune recently launched a nationwide broadband oversight effort to hold agencies accountable and ensure that previously authorized broadband funding is being used in the most efficient way possible to protect taxpayer dollars. As part of that effort, Thune sent a letter to U.S. Department of Commerce Inspector General Peggy Gustafson calling her out on her failure to fulfill congressionally mandated oversight of previously authorized broadband funding. Thune also introduced his bipartisan Rural Internet Improvement Act, legislation that would streamline and bolster U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development broadband programs and ensure that their funding is being targeted to rural areas that need it the most.