Most notably, Senate Commerce Committee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell, Washington Democrat, threatened to derail the deal over broadband internet funding. She raised concerns that the deal steered too much money to rural areas over urban communities.
“They need to do more on affordability,” said Mrs. Cantwell, pushing for a focus on underserved urban communities rather than “rural issues.”
Authors of the deal say the flare-up is the result of outdated or inaccurate versions of the legislation circulating among lawmakers.
“There are different versions of the language that apparently are floating out there, none of them are accurate,” said Sen. Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican who was instrumental in hammering out the deal. “The only accurate one is ours.”