Democrats Noncommital on Hill Review of BEAD Rule Changes After GAO Finding
Top Democrats on the Senate and House Communications subcommittees were noncommittal in interviews Wednesday and Thursday about pursuing legislation to address changes that NTIA made to the $42.5 billion BEAD program’s rules in its June 6 restructuring policy notice. The Government Accountability Office ruled Tuesday that the Congressional Review Act (CRA) doesn’t let the Commerce Department unilaterally make such alterations (see 2512170032). Meanwhile, Sens. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., filed the Supporting U.S. Critical Connectivity and Economic Strategy and Security (Success) for BEAD Act on Thursday to allow states to repurpose non-deployment BEAD funding for next-generation 911 technology upgrades and other purposes.
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Senate Communications ranking member Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., told us that “if something needs to be fixed, we should fix it, but we should all recommit to invest these dollars in broadband all across America.” GAO found that the June BEAD policy notice meets the CRA’s definition of a rule, and therefore NTIA needed to submit it to Congress for review and potential reversal. The policy notice swept away a variety of Biden-era requirements for BEAD participants and deprioritized fiber for qualifying broadband deployment projects (see 2506060052).
Congress voiced a “bipartisan understanding” when it created BEAD in the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act “that broadband connectivity was lacking in America [and that] we're going to work together to get this done,” Lujan said. “And then [the Trump] administration comes in, and they say that they want to build infrastructure programs, but they're finding every way they can to kill them.” Lujan said FCC Chairman Brendan Carr was lying during Wednesday's Senate Commerce Committee hearing (see 2512170070) when he said “that this administration is actually accelerating deployment of broadband when they're not. They're doing the exact opposite.”
House Communications ranking member Doris Matsui, D-Calif., indicated that she's hesitant to further hold up BEAD by pursuing a CRA reversal of the June rule changes. “We just have to get the money out there” to states, given that the changes have caused several months of delays to what had already been a glacial process, Matsui told us. The changes have also meant that state and territorial governments “have to keep redoing [their BEAD plans, and for] some of the states, that's been too much trouble.” Many “of those smaller areas or rural areas who really need [BEAD money] the most are frustrated, and I think they're willing to do anything at this point in time,” she said: “I don't blame them.”
NG911 Funding
Matsui also said she doesn't support the Success for BEAD Act, despite criticisms from her and other Democrats after congressional Republicans decided earlier this year against allocating future spectrum auction revenue for NG911 in the budget reconciliation package (see 2507080065). In addition to NG911, the bill would also allow states to use non-deployment funding for broadband mapping, wireless and undersea cable infrastructure, wholesale fiber, internet exchange points and connectivity-related workforce development. It would specifically bar states from using BEAD funding to pay for data centers.
“We need to fund NG911, but the BEAD funding should be directed to what” Congress already authorized via IIJA, including current non-deployment uses, Matsui said. House Communications leaders appeared no closer to identifying a consensus NG911 funding mechanism after a Tuesday hearing (see 2512160073) on the NG911 Act (HR-6505), which proposes creating a grant program for the upgrades via NTIA. HR-6505 doesn't include a specific amount of NG911 funding, but a previous iteration of the measure allocated $15 billion.
National Emergency Number Association CEO John Provenzano cheered Wicker and Capito for filing the Success for BEAD Act. “We appeal to all Members of Congress to come together on NG9-1-1 funding so that every American community can have the latest technology for life-saving emergency support,” he said in a statement. “These technologies are critically needed to keep our communities safe and our nation secure.” The Competitive Carriers Association and Incompas also praised the measure. Wicker's office cited support from USTelecom and the Wireless Infrastructure Association.
Lauren Kravetz, Intrado's vice president of government affairs, said in a statement Thursday that she expects BEAD non-deployment funding to emerge in 2026 as “the leading option to fund NG9-1-1 for states that remain eligible to use” that money. Lawmakers “are exploring a bi-partisan approach to allowing states to use unspent broadband deployment money and are collaborating with public safety on how states would access these funds and parameters for how states could use the funds.”