Rural Broadband Protection Act of 2025
Floor Speech
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2399, the Rural Broadband Protection Act. This legislation would direct the Federal Communications Commission to establish a process to more thoroughly vet internet service providers participating in the Universal Service Fund's high-cost program.
I have long advocated for reforms to combat waste, fraud, and abuse in the high-cost program. Following an investigation by Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats in 2017, we requested that the Government Accountability Office open its own inquiry into reports of abuse of high-cost support.
In a scathing report, GAO detailed a remarkable lack of oversight by the FCC, as well as the need for greater accountability to ensure precious USF dollars are spent on the mission of deploying high-speed broadband to unserved and underserved communities. Since then, we have seen modest progress to curb waste, fraud, and abuse in the high-cost program, but more accountability is needed.
I commend Representatives Kelly and Houchin for their work on this legislation and appreciate their commitment to protecting unserved and underserved communities in need of high-speed connectivity.
However, I must note that this legislation was not considered as part of the Energy and Commerce Committee's typical regular order process. It was not considered during a subcommittee legislative hearing or taken up in a subcommittee markup prior to being voted on by the full committee.
I am supporting the bill today, but I am disappointed that the Committee members were not afforded the opportunity to seek testimony from experts on this specific text of the legislation or inquire about the bill's impact on the program and consumers as is our typical practice for legislative hearings.
Still, I believe this legislation will help address critical gaps in the vetting of high-cost recipients and will curb waste, fraud, and abuse in the program, so I urge our colleagues to support H.R. 2399.
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Mrs. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I am prepared to close.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support H.R. 2399, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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