22 House Democrats Slam Trump Administration Overhaul of BEAD
Letter accuses Commerce Secretary of defying Congress' intent, threatening rural connectivity
WASHINGTON, July 23, 2025 – Congress gave states the reins; the Trump administration yanked them back.
That’s the message from Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., and 21 House Democrats, who on Tuesday sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, denouncing the administration’s June 6 restructuring of the $42.45 Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program.
“Congress deliberately designed the BEAD Program to be delivered by the states and territories,” the letter states. “To make matters worse, the BEAD Restructuring Policy Notice (BPRN) violates explicit statutory language in other ways, as well.”
Instead of removing burdensome requirements from the BEAD program and ensuring that Americans receive the ‘Benefit of the Bargain’, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s June 6 policy notice has further complicated and delayed the program, violating congressional intent, lawmakers wrote.
While the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the statute that established the BEAD program, allowed states and territories to decide what qualifies as a low-cost broadband service option (LCSO) for eligible households, the BPRN ruled that only subgrantees can propose what qualifies as an LCSO, a direct contradiction to congressional intent.
Additionally, Congress permitted states to use BEAD funding for other broadband adoption efforts, such as digital literacy programs, rather than just broadband infrastructure. The BPRN removes or restricts those approved uses, a clear overstep of agency power, the lawmakers argued.
Another point of contention was the “impractical timeline to make the massive changes" ordered. In just 90 days, states were being forced to rewrite entire program criteria, add and remove broadband serviceable locations, and re-run subgrantee selection rounds – “an unfair and unrealistic expectation,” the House Democrats said.
Finally, the letter states that the BPRN’s focus on cost efficiency comes at the detriment of local communities. States and territories were now forced to award grants to the cheapest applicants, rather than those best suited to address the unique needs of rural, unserved, and underserved communities. As the lawmakers put it, “in the context of infrastructure deployment, cheap is often synonymous with unreliable, unsustainable, and low-quality builds.”
“Nothing about the BRPN simplifies the BEAD Program for state broadband offices or providers, and the changes you insist upon will only lead to indefinite delays and worse internet service for Americans,” the lawmakers concluded. “NTIA must stop its unlawful, destructive actions to delay BEAD and saddle American families and businesses, especially in rural and underserved areas, with costly and inferior connectivity.”
The letter quipped that Lutnick has “repeatedly mischaracterized the Biden Administration’s execution of the BEAD Program for political purposes,” charging that his “disregard of congressional intent in creating the BEAD Program [was] clear in the policy choices made in the BPRN.”
The lawmakers argued NTIA’s June 6 notice would “needlessly steer tens of billions of federal dollars to less reliable technologies, impeding efforts to connect those who still do not have access to reliable, high-speed internet.”
Member discussion