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# Broadband Spared as Ernst Urges $2 Trillion Cuts
- URL: https://broadbandbreakfast.com/broadband-spared-as-ernst-urges-2-trillion-cuts/
- Published: 2025-10-06T21:08:59.000Z
- Updated: 2026-03-11T05:44:59.000Z
- Description: After calling BEAD a “boondoggle” last year, the Iowa senator omitted the program.
- Author: Akul Saxena
- Tags: FBA, BEAD, Congress, government shutdown, Joni Ernst, Elon Musk, Office of Management and Budget, Vivek Ramaswamy, Russel Vought, Gary Bolton, IIJA, #with-siderail, FOX NEWS

WASHINGTON, Oct. 6, 2025 — A year after urging **Elon Musk** to “pull the plug” on BEAD, Sen. **Joni Ernst** (R-Iowa) left broadband off her new $2 trillion spending-cut plan.

On Friday, the third day of the federal shutdown, [Ernst sent a letter](https://x.com/SenJoniErnst/status/1974188920377418203/photo/4?ref=broadbandbreakfast.com) urging Office of Management and Budget Director **Russell Vought** to slash what she described as non-essential federal programs. Her list cited overlapping defense grants, vacant federal buildings, and California’s high-speed rail, which she said remains billions over budget.

The letter, released through her office, referred to the ongoing stalemate as the “Schumer Shutdown.” It called for more than $2 trillion in reductions to what Ernst described as “out-of-control” federal spending.

The plan made no mention of the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program, a notable omission from Ernst’s list of programs she had previously criticized.

In a [Nov. 25, 2024 letter](https://www.ernst.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/doge%5Ftrillion%5Fdollar%5Fblue%5Fprint%5Fletter%5F-%5Felon%5Fvivek.pdf?ref=broadbandbreakfast.com) to Elon Musk and **Vivek Ramaswamy**, then co-chairs of the Department of Government Efficiency, Ernst labeled the BEAD initiative a “boondoggle” and pointed to it as a case study in federal waste.

“President Biden’s so-called infrastructure program provided $7.5 billion to build a nationwide network of electric-vehicle chargers and $42 billion to expand broadband,” she wrote. “Three years later, just 17 EV stations are completed and not a single person—not one—has been connected to the Internet yet.”

The Commerce Department, through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, has [since cut about $20 billion from BEAD’s deployment budget](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/cedar-falls-utilities-shutting-down-dying-cable-tv-next-october/), said Fiber Broadband Association President and CEO **Gary Bolton**.

BEAD, created under the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, provides grants to states for broadband deployment and related initiatives.

Its funding comes as part of a larger spending fight, with Vought, Trump's budget chief, outlining plans to withhold nearly $30 billion from blue states and cities, [according to Fox News](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ernst-demands-2t-federal-cuts-urges-trump-team-make-dc-squeal-amid-shutdown-fight?ref=broadbandbreakfast.com).

Ernst said the goal of her proposal is to save “more than $2 trillion” and “put taxpayers first” while reducing what she called wasteful spending across the federal government.