The Biden-Harris Administration’s Broadband Blockade is a Blow to Native American Communities

The Biden-Harris administration’s interference with rural broadband expansion is yet another example of Washington’s overreach, directly harming the communities it claims to support. For Native American communities, already suffering from systemic neglect and technological disparities, this bureaucratic bullying is a significant setback to obtaining Internet access and getting online.

The FCC reports almost 28 percent of tribal land residents lack high-speed broadband, compared to 1.5 percent of urban residents. 

The National Telecommunications and Information Agency (NTIA) has stalled tribal broadband expansion by imposing arbitrary rate regulations that contradict the very statute authorizing the funding. This overreach isn’t just about red tape—it’s about power. The NTIA’s actions disregard the law, opting instead to dictate preset prices, which hampers efficient deployment and stifles tribally-led solutions.

This delay is disastrous for Native American communities, where broadband access is not just a convenience but a critical lifeline. The digital divide in these areas profoundly affects everything from education and healthcare to economic opportunities. The NTIA’s insistence on rate regulation, despite Congress expressly prohibiting it, means fewer providers are willing to invest in these underserved areas. This directly impacts Native communities, exacerbating their isolation and limiting their access to essential services.

The administration’s economic policies have already burdened consumers with inflation and soaring interest rates reminiscent of the 1970s. Now, by obstructing rural broadband initiatives, Big Government is ensuring that Native American communities remain trapped in a technological desert. This policy flies in the face of sound economics and ignores the unique challenges these communities face.

When government imposes price controls, the results are predictably disastrous: higher costs and fewer choices. This is precisely what Native American communities cannot afford. The federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program was designed to bridge the digital divide for the 42 million Americans without broadband. Yet, NTIA’s overreach threatens to leave Native communities further behind, locked out of the digital economy.

As we now know, the BEAD money was allocated to states, bypassing direct work with tribes and ignoring the nation-to-nation relationship that should have been honored. Instead, funds were given to state equity offices, which discussed promises to provide Internet access to non-citizens. They neglected the tribal citizens who needed it the most and have been requesting it the longest. This misallocation further marginalizes Native communities, undermining their right to essential services and perpetuating the digital divide.

Moreover, the administration’s actions suggest a troubling trend toward nationwide Internet rate regulation. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is already moving to impose stringent regulations on Internet service providers (ISPs), which would further stymie efforts to expand broadband access to underserved areas. For Native American communities already battling against significant infrastructural deficits, this could mean the difference between progress and perpetual stagnation.

In his testimony on July 9, 2024, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr highlighted the dire situation: “This $42 billion program is the Biden Administration’s signature plan for extending high-speed Internet to millions of Americans across every state in the nation. And it is a program that is going off the rails.” He further noted, “It has now been 967 days since President Biden signed this $42 billion plan into law. And today, not one person has been connected to the Internet with those dollars—not one home or business. Indeed, not even one shovel’s worth of dirt has been turned with those dollars. And it gets worse. The Biden Administration recently confirmed that no construction projects will even start until sometime next year at the earliest and in many cases not until 2026. This makes President Biden’s signature BEAD initiative the slowest moving federal broadband deployment program in recent history, as far as I can tell.”

Adding to the bureaucratic entanglement, Vice President Harris was tasked with leading the push for better Internet access across the U.S. in 2021 (NPR). Despite the high stakes for her political future, the effort remains mired in the same ineffective bureaucracy. The Biden-Harris administration’s focus on workshops, taskforces, boot camps, roundtables, forums, and presentations does not install the Internet. Shovels in the ground do. Real fiber installation does. It’s about action, not just talking and presenting. Native American communities have waited too long for equitable access to technology—time is running out for the Biden-Harris administration to stop playing politics with our future.

By stepping back and allowing tribes to propose flexible, data-driven solutions, the federal government can ensure that broadband reaches those who need it most. Indigenous communities have waited too long for access—let’s move on to installation.