Wednesday in Chicago, President Joe Biden took a shot at U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) for boasting about $1.4 billion in federal funding for Alabama to expand broadband internet access.
However, Tuberville voted against the legislation authorizing the funding in 2021.
"See you at the groundbreaking," Biden wrote in a retweet of an earlier Tuberville tweet celebrating the news.
Tuberville followed up with a counter about the Space Command headquarters initially slated to be built in Huntsville.
However, later Biden elaborated on Tuberville's embrace of the broadband issue.
During his speech on so-called Bidenomics in Chicago on Wednesday, he mentioned Alabama's senior U.S. Senator.
"Seventy years ago, Dwight Eisenhower launched the Interstate Highway System, the largest infrastructure project to date in history," Biden said. "That's what the bipartisan infrastructure law does. It will be for our kids and grandkids, only bigger. Just last week, we announced our plan to bring affordable high-speed Internet to end a decade of unaffordable and inaccessible Internet to every home in America, every small business in America."
"And to no one surprise -- and to no one's surprise, it's bringing along some converts," he continued. "People strenuously opposed voting against it when we had this going on. They were -- this was going to bankrupt America. Well, there's a guy named Tuberville from -- the Senator from Alabama who announced that he strongly opposed the legislation. Now he's hailing this passage. Here's what he said, 'It's great to see Alabama receive critical funds to boost ongoing broadband efforts.'"
Tuberville's office disputes Biden's framing of the funding.
"The Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill was 2,702 pages and cost $1.2 trillion," a spokesman for Tuberville said to 1819 News. "The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) allocated $42.45 billion from the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program to expand high-speed internet access."
"That is 3.54% of the total funds of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill," the spokesman added. "Of that $42.45 billion to expand broadband – Alabama received $1.4 billion."
Jeff Poor is the editor in chief of 1819 News and host of "The Jeff Poor Show," heard Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-noon on Mobile's FM Talk 106.5. To connect or comment, email jeff.poor@1819News.com or follow him on Twitter @jeff_poor.
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