Senior aide questions efficiency of broadband program

In a rare Democratic critique of the $7.2 billion broadband stimulus program, which seeks to expand access to high-speed Internet service, a top aide to House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., warned the money might not be doled out in "the most efficient way possible."

Citing various statewide efforts to "map" the availability of broadband service, Amy Levine, an attorney with the subcommittee, lamented, "In an ideal world, we would complete that mapping first." Levine qualified her criticism by emphasizing that the broadband stimulus program only represents a slice of the federal effort to improve access.

"It is not the be all and end all of our national broadband strategy," she said, referring to a comprehensive plan being crafted by the FCC. Boucher, who held a March oversight hearing on the initiative, has vowed to keep an eye on its progress.