Last week the White House released the Legislative Outline for Rebuilding Infrastructure, President Trump’s much-anticipated infrastructure proposal.  The proposal creates a Rural Infrastructure Program with $50 billion of federal investment for surface transportation, waterways, and broadband deployment to empower rural communities.  

The White House issued two press releases this week which breakdown the Rural Infrastructure Program and the White House’s approach to rural broadband.  Federal funds from the Rural Infrastructure Program will be available for a wide array of project classes including:

  • Transportation Broadband deployment
  • Water and wastewater
  • Power and electric

The White House is pitching the Rural Infrastructure Program for its “light touch” of federal oversight which will grant state governors broad discretion over where the money is spent and for what sort of projects.  The funds provided under President Trump’s proposal will go directly to the governors’ offices without asset-specific amounts or regulatory requirements on how the money is spent.

The Legislative Outline was criticized when first released because it did not include dedicated funding for rural broadband deployment.  Rural broadband is a top priority for rural infrastructure, but this week’s White House press release confirms the President’s infrastructure package will not dedicate funding, or direct Governors to use funds, for broadband deployment projects.