Chairman Guthrie Suggests BEAD Changes Afoot

WASHINGTON, Jan. 16, 2025 – House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., criticized the Biden Administration’s handling of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program in opening remarks at a committee meeting on Wednesday.

Guthrie said the Biden Administration “failed on its promise to connect all Americans.”

He asserted that the current administration’s “unnecessary red tape… prevented even a single American from being connected despite a $42 billion price tag.”

BEAD – the $42.45 billion program he is referring to – was supposed to provide high-speed internet access to Americans nationwide. However, three years have passed since its launch, and no projects are underway, resulting in heavy criticism from Capitol Hill Republicans.

For example, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, complained about BEAD waste in a letter to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration last November.

“Since the program’s inception, you have spent—or rather, wasted—over $250 million hiring government employees and contractors to ‘administer’ a program that, in practical terms, hasn’t even launched,” Cruz wrote.

MoffettNathanson Senior Managing Director Craig Moffett, in an broadband industry report today, supported the notion that BEAD spending needed to be rationalized.

"The incoming Trump administration has already expressed a view that the Biden administration’s preference for fiber (in the government subsidized BEAD program) for extremely remote outposts is wasteful, and indeed that the whole BEAD program is hideously inefficient," Moffett said.

Guthrie suggested that, under his new leadership, changes to BEAD will be coming.

“We’re prepared to put the country on a new course where we close the digital divide and make sure everyone can enjoy the exciting technological developments that have only just begun.”

Named Chairman last month, Guthrie oversees the Federal Communications Commission and NTIA, two important agencies for broadband policy and regulation.