Millions Said to Be Wasted on U.S. Broadband Expansion

The U.S. government has dedicated about $7 billion from the 2009 U.S. stimulus plan to spread high-speed Internet service but it turns out this could have been a waste of millions of dollars, a lawmaker with oversight of the program said.

"The government has spent millions on equipment it did not need and on stringing fiber to areas that already had fiber," Representative Greg Walden, of Oregon, said in an e-mail yesterday.

Walden is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce panel's communications subcommittee, which is to hold a hearing tomorrow on the spending. The hearing is scheduled as Republicans and Democrats argue over across-the-board spending cuts set to take effect March 1 unless there's an agreement.

"At a time when government is considering cutting meat inspectors and FAA traffic controllers to address the federal spending problem, we need to be careful how we use taxpayer dollars," Walden said.

"There are undoubtedly some success stories but, overall, was the program well-conceived and well-implemented?" Walden said. "I won't tolerate any waste or abuse, and it appears we've uncovered millions that fit that category."

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