Lawmakers take pass on $87 million in federal broadband funding, citing national debt

Fiscal hawks in the South Dakota Senate band together to reject high-speed Internet dollars

PIERRE – Here’s one you don’t see every day: South Dakota walking away from $87 million.

That’s what South Dakota’s Senate did Tuesday after enough senators voted against taking the funding. The money had been allocated by the federal government for the state to continue building out its high-speed broadband system by laying fiber in under-served areas of the state.

But concerns over the federal government’s ballooning $39 trillion national debt convinced enough senators to reject the funding. Although the final vote was 22-12 to take the money, it failed to garner the two-thirds majority needed. The same measure had passed 55-11 in the House.