Press Releases

Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (WA-01) today joined colleagues in releasing the findings of a new report on broadband access in tribal lands of the United States. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) report commissioned in June 2014, makes recommendations to improve broadband access on tribal lands. According to the latest Federal Communications Commission (FCC) report, 41 percent of residents in these areas still lack any access to broadband. Comparatively, 10 percent of the United States lacks broadband access.

“In this Internet age, broadband plays a significant role in our ability to communicate, do business and educate our children. But too many communities, especially in remote or rural parts of the country, don’t have reliable access,” DelBene said. “I recently heard from tribal leaders in the First District and they told me about their struggles to get resources to improve broadband access. This GAO report proves we can and should be doing more to help our tribal communities.”

DelBene met with tribal leaders in Washington state to discuss barriers to broadband access on tribal land in November. The GAO visited or interviewed officials from 21 tribal entities for this report.

The GAO report makes four recommendations to the FCC to act on:

1. Develop joint training and outreach with USDA’s Rural Utilities Service, which runs the broadband loan program meant to support rural and tribal areas;
2. Develop performance goals and measures for tribal areas for improving broadband availability to households;
3. Develop performance goals and measures for improving broadband availability to tribal schools and libraries; and
4. Improve the reliability of its data related to institutions that receive E-Rate funding by defining “tribal” on the program application.

Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (CA-18) led the request with DelBene and six other House members. A copy of the report can be found HERE.

###