Reps. Cleaver, Davids Call on Biden Administration to Improve Accuracy of Broadband Maps, Ensure Every Community Receives Fair Share of Infrastructure Funding

(Kansas City, MO) – U.S. Representatives Emanuel Cleaver, II (MO-05) and Sharice Davids (KS-03) are calling on the Biden Administration to ensure the accuracy of the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) national broadband maps—which help determine the total amount of broadband funding communities receive from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, otherwise known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and other federal programs. In a letter, Cleaver and Davids urged the FCC and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to correct significant flaws in draft maps and improve communication, technical assistance, and administrative processes to ensure the Kansas City metropolitan area receives its fair share of the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funding.

The Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technology Availability (DATA) Act required the FCC to collect granular service availability data from wired, fixed wireless, and satellite broadband providers to create service maps that will be used when making new broadband funding awards. The FCC was mandated to create a process for consumers, state, local, and tribal governments, and other groups to challenge FCC maps with their own data. The FCCs draft maps were released in November 2022 and drew national concern about the accuracy of information submitted by broadband providers and the short timeline given to communities to challenge submitted data. By law, the NTIA is required to use the FCC’s new maps to distribute BEAD funding based on the number of unserved locations in each state. This month, the Mid America Regional Council wrote (LINK) the Administration detailing concerns that FCC data from the region included street and housing files with numerous errors and concerns that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) may have overstated the presence of their broadband infrastructure and its availability to census blocks.

In a letter to the FCC and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) last week, Reps. Cleaver and Davids wrote:

“In the Kansas City metropolitan area, broadband is instrumental in supporting economic development, enabling distance learning, allowing clinical services though telehealth, supporting the operations of our first responders, providing underserved constituents and communities with greater opportunity, among so many other important uses….We are confident that we share the goals of the Administration in striving to gather the best possible data, distribute federal funding as equitably as possible, and to see all American communities have access to high quality broadband service.”

The lawmakers continued:

“However, in the process of Congress and the Administration making a nation-changing investment in broadband, sacrificing accuracy for speed would undermine the important goals of our historic effort. If the Administration finds it impossible to delay the timeline as it currently stands, we urge the FCC and NTIA to utilize all available means of communication, technical assistance, and administrative authority to ensure every community receives their fair share of BEAD funding in this complex process. This includes sharing additional documentation submitted by broadband providers to assess the extent to which a provider may be inflating services.”

Rep. Cleaver has been an ardent advocate for closing the digital divide and expanding broadband access throughout the Fifth Congressional District of Missouri. In 2019, Rep. Cleaver hosted FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks for a local discussion on closing the rural-urban digital divide. Rep. Cleaver helped secure $7.5 million in federal funding to expand broadband in Saline County in 2020. In 2021, in addition to supporting the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law—which established the $42.5 billion BEAD program and has already provided $100 million to expand broadband access in Missouri—Reps. Cleaver and Jamal Bowman (D-NY) introduced the Broadband Justice Act to expand affordable broadband access to millions of families living in subsidized housing.

The official letter from Reps. Cleaver and Davids is available here.

Emanuel Cleaver, II is the U.S. Representative for Missouri's Fifth Congressional District, which includes Kansas City, Independence, Lee's Summit, Raytown, Grandview, Sugar Creek, Greenwood, Blue Springs, North Kansas City, Gladstone, and Claycomo. He is a member of the exclusive House Financial Services Committee; Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on Housing, Community Development, and Insurance; member of the Committee on Homeland Security; and a Senior Whip of the Democratic Caucus.