Overview of the Universal Service Fund and Selected Federal Broadband Programs

Efforts to deploy voice telephone service throughout the United States began almost 100 years ago. Starting in the 1990s, these efforts shifted toward the deployment of broadband internet service to homes, schools, and businesses and the provision of infrastructure to support applications such as telehealth and distance learning. These efforts have been supported through various permanent and pilot programs since that time. Further, as a result of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, Congress has passed or proposed legislation to create and fund new programs to accelerate broadband deployment: Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act (P.L. 116-136), Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA 2021) (P.L. 116-260), American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) (P.L. 117-2), and Leading Infrastructure for Tomorrow’s America Act (LIFT America Act) (H.R. 1848, introduced March 11, 2021). The LIFT America Act is included because of its intent to provide additional funding to numerous programs established or funded through CARES, CAA 2021, and ARPA. Other legislation has also been introduced in the 117th Congress related to broadband. Major broadband support programs are conducted by the following agencies: Federal Communications Commission (FCC), National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), Department of Agriculture (USDA), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Department of the Treasury, and Institute of Museum and Library Services. At this time, between already-existing programs to support broadband deployment and programs established or proposed since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are over 30 such programs at seven agencies. These programs address a wide range of goals, including improving and expanding access to telehealth services; improving and expanding access to the internet and internet devices to support in-school and distance learning; funding 5G deployment to rural areas, expanding broadband deployment to tribal entities; and promoting rural economic development, among other purposes. Given the complexity of managing existing programs while implementing new programs, many observers—including in Congress—have expressed concerns with the potential for a duplication of effort, and mismanagement or misuse of these funds. Oversight and interagency coordination of the new programs, in particular, may prove challenging due to the number of agencies and programs involved and the source and timelines for funding those programs. Enacted into law as part of the CAA 2021, the Broadband Interagency Coordination Act and the ACCESS BROADBAND Act required that the FCC, NTIA, and USDA to establish a means to achieving such coordination among themselves; this agreement was published, as required, on June 25, 2021. Additional oversight, especially of programs run through agencies not parties to the agreement, may be provided through hearings, both of individual agencies and of multiple agencies together that are responsible for managing similar or potentially overlapping programs.