“Some states are on the 1-yard line”
Republicans criticized the Biden administration for not yet distributing grant money, but the NTIA said in November that it had approved initial funding plans submitted by every state and territory. Feinman said the change in direction will delay grant distribution.
“Some states are on the 1-yard line. A bunch are on the 5-yard line. More will be getting there every week,” he wrote. “These more-sweeping changes will only cause delays. The administration could fix the problems with the program via waiver and avoid slowdowns.”
The program is on pause, even if the new government leaders don’t admit it, according to Feinman. “The administration wants to make changes, but doesn’t want to be seen slowing things down. They can’t have both. States will have to be advised that they should either slow down or stop doing subgrantee selection,” he wrote.
Delaware, Louisiana, and Nevada had their final proposals approved by the NTIA in January, a few days before Trump’s inauguration. “Shovels could already be in the ground in three states, and they could be in the ground in half the country by the summer without the proposed changes to project selection,” Feinman wrote.
The three states with approved final proposals are now “in limbo,” he wrote. “This makes no sense—these states are ready to go, and they got the job done on time, on budget, and have plans that achieve universal coverage,” his email said. “If the administration cares about getting shovels in the ground, states with approved Final Proposals should move forward, ASAP.”
Other states that were nearing the final stage are also in limbo, Feinman wrote. “No decision has been made about how much of the existing progress the 30 states who are already performing subgrantee selection should be allowed to keep,” he wrote. “The administration simply cannot say whether the time, taxpayer funds, and private capital that were spent on those processes will be wasted and how much states will have to re-do.”
