Comedy Central host Jon Stewart expressed disbelief Thursday after New York Times columnist Ezra Klein detailed the extensive bureaucratic process delaying the Biden administration’s $40 billion rural broadband initiative. Despite being signed into law in 2021 as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), the project has yet to complete a single installation.
Klein walked Stewart through the 14-step process required for states to access broadband funding, highlighting excessive red tape that has hindered progress. By step 12, where states must conduct a competitive sub-granting process, Stewart could no longer contain his frustration. “Oh my [expletive] God,” he exclaimed. “That’s step 12… after all this has been done?” Klein confirmed that only 30 of 56 jurisdictions had completed the step, with just three reaching step 13.
“I’m speechless, Ezra,” Stewart admitted. “It’s far worse than I could have imagined. The fact that they amputated their own legs on this is what’s so stunning.”
The Biden administration imposed numerous regulatory requirements on the program, including mandatory environmental initiatives, the use of union labor, and other stipulations buried in a 98-page document. Critics argue that these bureaucratic hurdles have rendered the program ineffective, mirroring other failed infrastructure initiatives.
A similar lack of efficiency plagued the Biden administration’s $7 billion electric vehicle charging program, which as of April 2024 had produced only seven operational chargers. The rural broadband project’s delays have intensified concerns about government mismanagement of taxpayer-funded initiatives.
The failure to implement the broadband initiative also raises concerns about the digital divide in rural America, where millions still lack access to high-speed internet. Reliable internet access is crucial for education, telemedicine, and small business growth, yet government inefficiency has stalled progress. With billions allocated and no results, critics argue that the Biden administration’s infrastructure promises have amounted to little more than bureaucratic roadblocks and wasted taxpayer money.
