"My suggestion to both Colorado and West Virginia, if the money wasn't supposed to be spent the way you spent it, the federal taxpayers deserve to have it all back."
"The decision to spend the federal funds on oversized routers resulted in millions of dollars in federal funds not being spent on expanding the states fiber-optic broadband network."
"A 5,500 square foot library in a town of 1,500 needs a $20,000 router?"
"Did they use a competitive bidding process in West Virginia in accordance with their statutes? No, they did not according to the auditor. Correct?"
"I don't believe any addition of middle-mile capacity to our Nation's infrastructure should in any way be considered overbuild."
"4 percent is a lot of my district that didn't have access to broadband and that the federal money should go into those areas where it is really difficult to make a financial case for broadband on a co..."
"That is my point in this oversight hearing and in the arguments I made, frankly, when this bill was being marked up a number of years ago to say go serve the unserved areas first, the places you all h..."
"One of my questions, though, is how is this money getting spent? Where are the stewards of the taxpayers' dollars?"
"it is pretty damning."
"what recommendations would you have for these agencies to make sure that sort of waste doesn't occur that has been identified in the West Virginia audit?"
"I want to welcome our witnesses today for this hearing, which will look at all these issues related to how the stimulus money was spent on building out broadband."
"At a time when President Obama and his administration is threatening to lay off meat inspectors, FAA controllers, TSA agents, throw Head Start students out of class, and cut teachers as the best way t..."