The current House version of the $825 billion stimulus package sets aside just $6 billion for broadband deployment, about a third of the amount that some Democratic lawmakers had wanted. In addition, the money comes with conditions that some companies said discourage them from participating in the program.

“Its not a lot of money and then you have to jump through a lot of hoops to get it,” said Paul Glenchur, a Washington- based telecommunications policy analyst with Stanford Group Co.

While Obama made a campaign promise to extend the reach of high-speed Internet networks, the economic crisis forced the incoming administration to redirect resources to other programs such as repairing roads and bridges. In a bill before the House, Qwest would end up competing for about half the $6 billion for broadband, as $2.8 billion of the amount is set aside for smaller telecommunications companies that already serve remote rural areas.

Qwest Disappointed

“We continue to be disappointed,” said Shirley Bloomfield, Qwests top Washington lobbyist. She said the Denver-based local phone company operates in 14 Western states and can quickly put people to work digging trenches and installing fiber-optic lines in rural areas that lack high-speed Internet access.

That disappointment is shared by lawmakers such as U.S. Representative Anna Eshoo, a California Democrat, who had been pushing for as much as $15 billion in the stimulus proposal to extend the reach of broadband.

“I dont think its enough,” said Eshoo of the current plan.

While Democrats such as Eshoo hold out hope for expanding broadbands slice of the stimulus package, some Republicans are criticizing the broadband funding.

U.S. Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican who made cutting wasteful government spending a hallmark of his own presidential campaign last year, said new wiring couldnt be built fast enough to have an immediate impact on the economy.

Republican Objections

“That will take years,” McCain said on Fox News on Jan. 25.

“Our country is way behind,” Eshoo said.

Separately, Senator Jay Rockefeller plans to propose including in the stimulus package tax credits to encourage telephone, cable and wireless companies to expand broadband access, an aide said. The West Virginia Democrat is chairman of the Commerce Committee, which is meeting on the plan today.

Obama, 47, continues to highlight broadband expansion, which he mentioned in his inaugural address and his first radio address as president, on Jan. 24, when he called for “expanding broadband to millions of Americans.”

In a speech last year in Flint, Michigan, Obama described a more ambitious broadband agenda.

“As president, I will set a simple goal: every American should have the highest form of broadband access, no matter where you live, or how much money you have,” he said.

Economic Crisis

That campaign rhetoric, however, has clashed with the fiscal situation he inherits. The Digital Policy Institute at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, estimates that it would cost $28 billion to build high-speed Internet networks for the parts of rural America that currently have no broadband access.

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