President Joe Biden announced a $65 billion broadband-deployment deal Thursday with Senate Republicans and Democrats, but he provided no details on whether the plan will prioritize municipal broadband networks as the president originally proposed.

Congressional Republicans have tried to ban municipal broadband nationwide, so it's highly unlikely that they would have agreed to Biden's stated goal of giving public networks priority over private ISPs in the next big round of government subsidies. Biden in March proposed $100 billion for broadband over eight years and a provision to prioritize "support for broadband networks owned, operated by, or affiliated with local governments, non-profits, and co-operatives—providers with less pressure to turn profits and with a commitment to serving entire communities."

Eleven Senate Republicans, nine Democrats, and an independent who caucuses with Democrats agreed on the $65 billion broadband plan as part of a larger $1.2 trillion infrastructure framework. The fact sheet released by Biden provides no detail on how the funding will be distributed, but it says the $65 billion will pay for "universal broadband infrastructure."

The plan will "connect every American to reliable high-speed Internet, just as the federal government made a historic effort to provide electricity to every American nearly one hundred years ago," Biden's fact sheet said. "The framework will also drive down prices for Internet service and close the digital divide." Biden has repeatedly promised to lower Internet prices, but he didn't say how this deal would accomplish that.

No one is saying yet whether Biden agreed to drop his preference for municipal broadband in order to make the deal with Republicans. If the status of municipal broadband was not addressed in yesterday's agreement, the details would be worked out in upcoming Congressional negotiations. While Republicans would likely want the funding awards to prioritize private ISPs or even prohibit funding for municipal networks, one potential compromise would be to let public and private networks compete for funding without any restrictions on either.

Speaking generally about the $1.2 trillion package, Biden said, "I clearly didn't get all I wanted. They gave more than, I think, maybe they were inclined to give in the first place. But this reminds me of the days we used to get an awful lot done up at the United States Congress... Bipartisan deals means compromise." He also answered questions in a press conference but didn't go into more detail on broadband.

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Private ISPs lobby against fiber and public networks

Biden's original plan gave priority access to funding for "future-proof" networks. Biden didn't specify a technology, but fiber-to-the-home service is widely recognized as the most future-proof broadband technology and—unlike cable or DSL—provides upload speeds that are as fast as download speeds.

Biden's plan immediately drew opposition from Republicans and private ISPs such as AT&T, which has argued that the US should not subsidize fiber-to-the-home deployment across the US and that rural people should be satisfied with non-fiber Internet service that provides only 10Mbps upload speeds. AT&T John Stankey called Biden's plan to fund municipal networks "misguided" and said he was confident that Congress would steer legislation in the more "pragmatic" direction that AT&T favors.

That would likely involve AT&T and other private ISPs continuing to receive billions of dollars from the government to build networks in rural areas without necessarily having to deploy future-proof infrastructure. If fiber isn't prioritized, the funding could pay for technologies like cable, DSL, fixed wireless, and satellite. If incumbent ISPs get their way, the government also won't fund better networks in areas that already have access to basic broadband speeds.

Biden cut $35 billion from plan

Biden cut his funding proposal from $100 billion to $65 billion last month to match a Republican offer. Biden's fact sheet on the compromise yesterday did not mention municipal broadband, "future-proof" networks, or any speed minimum for subsidized networks. There was one mention of "public-private partnerships... for infrastructure investment," but it wasn't specific to broadband.

We contacted the White House and over a dozen senators' offices this morning with questions about the status of municipal broadband in the $65 billion deal. We also asked them whether the funding deal specifies minimum download and upload speeds, and whether it will prioritize fiber-to-the-home service. We'll update this article if we get any answers.

The plan Biden released in March said he also intends to eliminate "barriers that prevent municipally owned or affiliated providers and rural electric co-ops from competing on an even playing field with private providers." That could involve overturning laws in 17 states that greatly restrict the rights of cities and towns to build broadband networks. Biden still hasn't revealed specifics on how he wants to lift the barriers faced by municipal networks.

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Even this deal faces trouble in Congress

As reported by USA Today, the Republicans who agreed to yesterday's deal are Richard Burr of North Carolina; Bill Cassidy of Louisiana; Susan Collins of Maine; Lindsey Graham of South Carolina; Jerry Moran of Kansas; Lisa Murkowski of Alaska; Rob Portman of Ohio; Mitt Romney of Utah; Mike Rounds of South Dakota; Thom Tillis of North Carolina; and Todd Young of Indiana. The Democrats are Chris Coons of Delaware; Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire; John Hickenlooper of Colorado; Mark Kelly of Arizona; Joe Manchin of West Virginia; Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire; Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona; Jon Tester of Montana; and Mark Warner of Virginia. Angus King, the Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats, rounded out the list.

Biden's fact sheet said that some of the infrastructure funding will come from "5G spectrum auction proceeds" and "state and local investment in broadband infrastructure." Biden's plan didn't specify what that last phrase refers to, but Politico reported that Sen. Warner's office said it "refers to $20 billion in money already allocated in the March pandemic relief plan."

Even this deal is not guaranteed to be enacted. Biden said that he won't sign the infrastructure deal unless Congress also approves a budget reconciliation bill that could provide $4 trillion to implement other Democratic priorities. The reconciliation package could include additional broadband funding as part of one proposal that would also eliminate state laws that restrict municipal broadband, but that's far from certain. Graham, one of the 11 Republicans who initially backed the compromise announced yesterday, reportedly called Biden's demand to pair the bills "extortion" and said, "If he's gonna tie them together, he can forget it."