E&C Democrats Demand Trump Administration Follow the Law and Implement BEAD Program as Congress Intended

Energy and Commerce Committee Democratic leaders wrote to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) today demanding that it abide by the law and disperse Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program (BEAD) funding as intended by Congress. The letter comes amidst reports that the Trump Administration is considering an illegal Executive Order that would override state Artificial Intelligence (AI) laws and threaten to withhold BEAD funding from any state that does not comply.

The letter was signed by Full Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Communications and Technology Subcommittee Ranking Member Doris Matsui (D-CA), and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Ranking Member Yvette D. Clarke (D-NY).

“It is evident that NTIA’s implementation of the BEAD Program violates the letter of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and ignores the intent of Congress, jeopardizing the bipartisan goal of delivering fast, reliable, and affordable internet to everyone in America. We also remind you that any Executive Order issued by the President cannot override existing laws passed by Congress,” the three Democratic Committee leaders wrote to Arielle Roth, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information.  

“In January 2025, the Trump Administration inherited a BEAD Program on the cusp of connecting every American household and business to fast, reliable, and affordable internet service,” they continued. “Rural communities were especially poised to finally receive the same future-proof infrastructure that today connects urban centers and densely populated suburbs. But for reasons that defy logic and the law, both Secretary Lutnick and you have taken consistent steps to sabotage BEAD and abandon Congress’s bipartisan commitment to expand affordable, high-speed internet access to everyone in America.”

Pallone, Matsui, and Clarke explained that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law requires NTIA to prioritize projects that “provide broadband service that meets speed, latency, reliability, and consistency in quality of service,” and that can “easily scale speeds over time to meet the evolving connectivity needs of households and businesses.” Yet the changes NTIA has made to the program expose the Trump Administration’s plan to instead prioritize the cheapest technologies – regardless of their performance or scalability – in order to claim “savings” and score political points.

As a result, the three Committee leaders wrote that the BEAD Program now resembles the failed Trump Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) program from Trump’s first term.

“Neither NTIA nor any Administration official has the authority to ignore the plain language of the statute, let alone Congressional intent. Congress specifically directed NTIA to ensure that states and territories prioritize projects that deliver scalable networks capable of supporting speed and capacity needs of the future,” Pallone, Matsui, and Clarke wrote. “Your emphasis on the cheapest upfront cost, using an undocumented and arbitrary set of statewide per-location costs over more reliable metrics like speed, bandwidth, scalability, and cost over the lifespan of the technology, is not only a violation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, it also puts the Trump BEAD Program on a trajectory to repeat RDOF’s defaults and failed commitments, ultimately leaving communities – primarily rural communities – unconnected.”

The Committee leaders noted that nothing in the law empowers NTIA to impound tens of billions of dollars that Congress authorized and appropriated to achieve specific policy outcomes, including universal connectivity, affordability, and scalable infrastructure. They consequently urged NTIA to release to each state and territory its full BEAD allocation.

Pallone, Matsui, and Clarke concluded by requesting detailed responses to a series of questions designed to help Committee Democrats conduct oversight of NTIA’s implementation of BEAD.

The full letter can be found HERE.

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