America saved $21 billion at one blow with new deregulation.
While DOGE is primarily responsible for cutting fraud and waste in the federal government, other agencies are also busy trying to cut waste and save the American taxpayer money. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick provided an update on just one Biden-era push he reversed, which is set to save the American taxpayer a staggering amount of money.
Lutnick posted his announcement on X today. “At the Department of Commerce, we are fixing the broadband mess left behind by the Biden administration,” he began. “That means putting an end to arrangements that were trying to send tens of billions of taxpayer dollars to massively wasteful, complete rip-off projects run by powerful lobbyists who are very good at getting grants and very bad at delivering results.”
Referring to the Trump administration deregulation in broadband development, Lutnick continued, “We stopped this Biden rip-off before it spent a single dollar. Money is only deployed when the American taxpayer gets the benefit of the bargain. When states do it right, fairly, and appropriately, the dollars go out right away. No red tape. No delays.”
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He ended triumphantly: “You will be shocked by how much money we saved. $21 billion SAVED in this program alone.”
Lutnick linked to an opinion piece from the Wall Street Journal, which explained how the Trump administration enacted broadband deregulation, reversing disastrous Biden administration efforts:
Congress appropriated $42 billion in the 2021 infrastructure bill for states to expand broadband to “unserved” and rural communities. The spending was unnecessary since satellite services like SpaceX’s Starlink and 5G fixed wireless services were rapidly closing the so-called digital divide. Upward of 99% of households already had high-speed internet.
But Democrats wanted the money, and the Biden team then used it in an attempt to micromanage broadband nationwide… States also had to submit plans for Commerce Department review…The Biden crowd also stipulated that broadband providers give hiring preferences to “underrepresented” groups…Enter the Trump team, led by assistant Commerce secretary Arielle Roth, which removed nearly all of the Biden mandates and prioritized projects in which private operators put up more capital so they would have more skin in the game.
And with that simple decision to withdraw overreaching federal regulation, $21 billion did not go down the drain. It is amazing what this nation can accomplish if American voters, rather than bureaucrats, are the main focus.
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There are very few sectors and areas in which increased federal regulation and activity do not represent a threat to efficiency, innovation, and financial prosperity. From healthcare to education to environmental standards, federal meddling has more often than not created many more problems than it has solved.
The Trump administration has recognized that in a number of areas, which is a welcome change from the Biden administration.
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