II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1659 

To return unused or reclaimed funds made available for broadband awards 

in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to the Treasury 

of the United States. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 5, 2011 

Ms. AYOTTE (for herself and Mr. DEMINT) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 

Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To return unused or reclaimed funds made available for 

broadband awards in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to the Treasury of the United 

States. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. ACCOUNTABILITY FOR BROADBAND STIMULUS 

4 FUNDS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi6 sion of law, the Administrator of the Rural Utilities Serv7 ice or the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Commu8 nications and Information shall take prompt and approVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:37 Oct 06, 2011 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1659.IS S1659

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1 priate action to terminate for cause any award made 

2 under the Broadband Initiatives Program or the 

3 Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, respec4 tively, established pursuant to the American Recovery and 

5 Reinvestment Act of 2009, if the Administrator or Assist6 ant Secretary determines that cause exists to terminate 

7 the award. Such cause may include an insufficient level 

8 of performance, wasteful spending, or fraudulent spend9 ing. 

10 (b) DEOBLIGATION AND RETURN OF FUNDS TO

11 TREASURY.— 

12 (1) DEOBLIGATION.—Upon terminating an 

13 award under subsection (a), the Administrator or 

14 the Assistant Secretary shall immediately deobligate 

15 an amount equivalent to such award, as recoverable, 

16 less allowable costs. 

17 (2) RETURN TO TREASURY.—Not later than 30 

18 days after deobligating an amount under paragraph 

19 (1), the Administrator or the Assistant Secretary 

20 shall, without exception, return such amount to the 

21 general fund of the Treasury of the United States. 

22 (3) NO EXPENDITURES DURING TERMINATION

23 PROCESS.—The Administrator or the Assistant Sec24 retary shall promptly pursue available corrective 

25 measures to ensure that funds received through an 


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1 award terminated under subsection (a) are not ex2 pended during the termination process. 

3 (4) ACCOUNTING BY AWARD RECIPIENT.—The 

4 Administrator or the Assistant Secretary shall direct 

5 the recipient of an award terminated under sub6 section (a) to provide to the Administrator or the 

7 Assistant Secretary a complete and accurate ac8 counting, which may include an independent ac9 counting, for any award funds that, as of the date 

10 of termination, the recipient has received but has 

11 not expended on allowable costs. 

12 SEC. 2. DISPOSITION OF UNUSED FUNDS. 

13 The Administrator of the Rural Utilities Service or 

14 the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications 

15 and Information shall return to the general fund of the 

16 Treasury of the United States an amount equivalent to 

17 any award, as recoverable, less allowable costs, made 

18 under the Broadband Initiatives Program or the 

19 Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, respec20 tively, established pursuant to the American Recovery and 

21 Reinvestment Act of 2009, if such award has been re22 turned to the Administrator or Assistant Secretary or dis23 claimed by the award recipient at any time after the date 

24 of enactment of such Act. 


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1 SEC. 3. OVERSIGHT AND REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

2 (a) ACTION ON INFORMATION FROM OIG OR GAO.— 

3 If the Administrator of the Rural Utilities Service or the 

4 Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and 

5 Information receives information from an official de6 scribed in subsection (b) with respect to an award made 

7 under the Broadband Initiatives Program or the 

8 Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, respec9 tively, established pursuant to the American Recovery and 

10 Reinvestment Act of 2009, and such information pertains 

11 to material noncompliance with the award terms or provi12 sions or improper usage of award funds, the Administrator 

13 or the Assistant Secretary shall— 

14 (1) immediately review such information; and 

15 (2) not later than 30 days after receiving such 

16 information, determine whether cause exists to ter17 minate such award under section 1(a). 

18 (b) OFFICIALS DESCRIBED.—The officials described 

19 in this subsection are the following: 

20 (1) With respect to the Broadband Initiatives 

21 Program, the Inspector General of the Department 

22 of Agriculture. 

23 (2) With respect to the Broadband Technology 

24 Opportunities Program, the Inspector General of the 

25 Department of Commerce. 


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1 (3) The Comptroller General of the United 

2 States. 

3 (c) CONGRESSIONAL NOTIFICATION.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 days after 

5 making a determination described in subsection 

6 (a)(2), the Administrator or the Assistant Secretary 

7 shall provide a notification of such determination 

8 to— 

9 (A) the Committee on Agriculture of the 

10 House of Representatives and the Committee 

11 on Agriculture of the Senate or the Committee 

12 on Energy and Commerce of the House of Rep13 resentatives and the Committee on Commerce, 

14 Science, and Transportation of the Senate, re15 spectively; and 

16 (B) the official who provided the informa17 tion described in subsection (a). 

18 (2) CONTENTS OF NOTIFICATION.—The notifi19 cation required by paragraph (1) shall include an ex20 planation of— 

21 (A) the determination described in sub22 section (a)(2); and 

23 (B) any action taken as a result of the de24 termination or why no action was necessary. 


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1 SEC. 4. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 

2 Section 6001(i)(4) of the American Recovery and Re3 investment Act of 2009 (47 U.S.C. 1305(i)(4)) is amend4 ed— 

5 (1) by striking ‘‘may’’ and inserting ‘‘shall’’; 

6 and 

7 (2) by striking ‘‘, and award these funds com8 petitively to new or existing applicants consistent 

9 with this section’’. 

10 SEC. 5. AWARD DEFINED. 

11 In this Act, the term ‘‘award’’ includes grants and 

12 loans. 

Æ 


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