{"id":953488,"date":"2021-11-02T11:59:03","date_gmt":"2021-11-02T15:59:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=953488"},"modified":"2021-11-02T11:59:07","modified_gmt":"2021-11-02T15:59:07","slug":"bidens-commerce-secretary-is-trying-to-shield-a-42-billion-broadband-funding-program-from-public-eyes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bidens-commerce-secretary-is-trying-to-shield-a-42-billion-broadband-funding-program-from-public-eyes\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden\u2019s Commerce Secretary Is Trying To Shield A $42 Billion Broadband Funding Program From Public Eyes"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbidens-commerce-secretary-is-trying-to-shield-a-42-billion-broadband-funding-program-from-public-eyes%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=953488&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo requested the inclusion of a provision in the bipartisan infrastructure bill shielding a $42 billion broadband funding program from public scrutiny, according to several people familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n<p>The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a $1.2 trillion piece of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/117th-congress\/house-bill\/3684\/text\">legislation<\/a>&nbsp;that passed the Senate in August with significant bipartisan support and currently awaits a vote in the House, sets aside $42 billion in broadband deployment grants to be given to states and administered through guidelines issued by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), a division of the Commerce Department.<\/p>\n<p>However, the bill also includes a provision exempting the broadband program from the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.archives.gov\/federal-register\/laws\/administrative-procedure\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">act<\/a>, which has been interpreted to cover both the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the Privacy Act, requires federal agencies to publish notices of proposed and final rulemaking in the Federal Register and make available documents and communications to public records requests.<\/p>\n<p>The exemption was added to the infrastructure bill at the request of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, two Senate aides familiar with the matter told the Daily Caller News Foundation. Congressional staff involved in drafting the bill may not have fully understood the potential consequences of the exemption, according to a person familiar with the negotiations. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/10\/27\/supply-chain-broadband-brendan-carr-semiconductor-internet\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(RELATED: The Supply Chain Crisis Could Threaten Rural America\u2019s Internet Access)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7304515\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" readability=\"36\">\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-7304515\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A contract crew for Verizon, works on a cell tower to update it to handle the new 5G network in Orem, Utah on December 10, 2019. (Photo by GEORGE FREY\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Neither Raimondo\u2019s office at the Commerce Department nor the NTIA responded to the DCNF\u2019s multiple requests for comment as to why the exemption was included. However, Independent Maine Sen. Angus King said in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.c-span.org\/video\/?513919-1\/senate-votes-amendments-12-trillion-bipartisan-infrastructure-bill\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">remarks<\/a> on the Senate floor during negotiations over the bill that subjecting the bill to the APA would be \u201cburdensome\u201d and \u201cslow down the process.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The inclusion of APA requirements would also \u201cinvite lawsuits,\u201d King said.<\/p>\n<p>If enacted, the exemption would shield the Commerce Department\u2019s program from public scrutiny and open the door for the NTIA to sue over public records requests, according to Kel McClanahan, executive director of public interest law firm National Security Counselors.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is not a stretch of the imagination that if someone files a public records request in a state using these broadband funds, the NTIA will at the very least lean on the state to not disclose information,\u201d McClanahan told the DCNF.<\/p>\n<p>McClanahan argued a similar <a href=\"https:\/\/casetext.com\/case\/whitaker-v-dept-of-commerce-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">case<\/a> related to FirstNet, a public safety broadband network within the NTIA established in 2012 that was also exempt from the APA through a similar provision as that one included in the infrastructure bill. The court, in that case, held that FirstNet was exempt from FOIA requests.<\/p>\n<p>McClanahan said the wording of the infrastructure bill\u2019s APA provision was very similar to the provision shielding FirstNet from public scrutiny and was most likely an attempt by the Commerce Department to sneak through the exemption.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey wanted to slip this thing by, and say \u2018looks like we\u2019re not subject to FOIA,\u2019\u201d McClanahan said.<\/p>\n<p>Aaron Mackey, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/technology\/bidens-billions-on-broadband-could-be-shielded-from-public-scrutiny\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">told<\/a> The Washington Examiner that the language of the bill would likely exempt much of the broadband program from public records requests and requirements to publish notices.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe bill\u2019s full exemption from FOIA and the Privacy Act is inexcusable, especially for the massive amounts of taxpayer dollars being spent,\u201d Mackey said.<\/p>\n<p>Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact <a href=\"mailto:licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org\">licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo requested the inclusion of a provision in the bipartisan infrastructure bill shielding a $42 billion broadband funding program from public scrutiny, according to several people &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":96,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-953488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/96"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=953488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953488\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=953488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=953488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=953488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}