NTIA And RUS broadband stimulus programs under Congressional fire

Officials at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) took a beating recently before two congressional committees assessing the status of the broadband stimulus grant and loan programs funded last February as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

Both the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce and the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Small Business subjected the agency heads to sharp scrutiny and prompted testimony that led some members of both committees to conclude that the grant and loan programs may be in disarray...