Senators Will Delay Department Of Commerce Nominees Until States Receive Funding.
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senators Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) led over a dozen of their Senate colleagues in a letter condemning the Trump Administration’s reckless decision to rescind approval for states to receive their share of Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program funding. The BEAD program was created to connect families in the hardest-to-serve communities to high-speed internet and close the digital divide. The Trump Administration’s new guidance rescinded the final approval of three states, including Nevada and Delaware, and forces all states to redo burdensome steps in their processes, hindering states’ ability to connect communities to high-speed internet. In their letter, the Senators committed to blocking all related Department of Commerce nominees until states receive their full BEAD allocation.
Senators Rosen and Blunt Rochester were joined by Senators Michael Bennet (D-CO), Gary Peters (D-MI), Tina Smith (D-MN), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Ed Markey (D-MA), and Mark Warner (D-VA).
“We write to express our deep concern with the recent guidance the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) issued regarding the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program. This guidance will add needless delay to connecting millions of Americans to high-speed internet, while going against Congressional intent and betraying unconnected Americans in the process,” wrote the Senators. “Until states receive the entire amount of BEAD funds they are owed, including nondeployment funds, we will not consent to expedited consideration of any related Commerce Department nominees on the Senate floor.”
“With three states fully approved and ready to put shovels in the ground and 42 other states having completed or started the process of receiving project bids and selecting BEAD subgrantees, NTIA’s new guidance upends years of work and threatens to delay the program at a critical point… Simply claiming states will be able to comply with NTIA’s new requirements within 90 days does not make it true,” the Senators’ letter continued. “With this in mind, we implore you to provide states with the maximum flexibility possible and ensure states receive the full amount of funding they are owed. Should you fail to do so, we will continue to block the expeditious advancement of all Commerce Department nominees overseeing broadband policy, along with any related nominees.”
The full text of the letter can be found HERE.
Senator Rosen has been a strong advocate for expanding high-speed internet access in Nevada and nationwide. Senator Rosen worked across party lines to help create the BEAD program, having helped write the broadband section of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which secured $65 billion in nationwide investments to make high-speed internet affordable for Americans. She also successfully pushed the Federal Communications Commission to update its deeply flawed National Broadband Map and ensure Nevada receives its fair share of BEAD funding. After reports that the Trump Administration was rescinding the approval of BEAD funding, Senator Rosen blasted the Trump Administration for its wrongheaded decision and announced that she would block nominees to the Department of Commerce.
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