House, Senate Appropriators Would Provide NTIA $50 Million for FY2026
Lawmakers would ask for a briefing on the agency's “plans and timeline for expending all remaining” BEAD funds.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 5, 2025 – Appropriators from both chambers of Congress would allocate $50 million to the National Telecommunications and information administration through September 30, 2026.
That’s down from $57 million in fiscal year 2025 but above President Donald Trump’s request of $46 million.
The bill, released Monday and yet to be cleared by the House or Senate, would provide an additional $1 million for building maintenance, in line with the White House request.
Should the bill become law, lawmakers said in a separate document that NTIA would then have 30 days to provide Congress a briefing on “its plans and timeline for expending all remaining funds provided by the [Infrastructure Law] for the [Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment] program.”
The $42.45 billion BEAD program is expected to have a roughly $21 billion surplus after funding infrastructure deployment in areas without broadband access, partly the result of Trump administration cost-cutting policies. Lawmakers from both parties have increasingly been pushing the administration to allow states to retain and spend that money rather than clawing it back.
House appropriators had cleared a $46 million budget for the agency in September and the Senate had been mulling a $55 million budget for the agency. But in October, broader funding negotiations stalled – GOP lawmakers wanted to let expire healthcare subsidies that Democrats wanted to preserve – and the government shut down for a record-breaking 43 days.
NTIA’s budget is decided along with the Commerce Department, which houses NTIA, and the Justice Department, among other agencies. The Monday legislation is part of a three-bill “minibus” package aimed at avoiding another shutdown and keeping the government funded through fiscal year 2026.
In November, Congress passed a continuing resolution that ended last year's shutdown and maintained 2025 funding levels through January 30.
Previous budget including mandate prohibiting affordability
The previous House Appropriations-approved budget included a mandate that NTIA prohibit states from enforcing affordability laws on participants in BEAD, among other policy riders. The updated bill did not include those measures, but the agency has been enforcing the prohibition on affordability laws (and net neutrality laws) anyway.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told ABC onSunday that he was optimistic there wouldn’t be a shutdown this time around. PunchBowl News reported that a House vote on the minibus package was possible as soon as this week.
The bills released Monday were bipartisan. Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, said in a statement that it was “a fiscally responsible package that restrains spending while providing essential federal investments that will improve water infrastructure in our country, enhance our nation’s energy and national security, and spur scientific research necessary to maintain U.S. competitiveness.”
The vice chair of the committee, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., issued a lengthier statement saying Democratic appropriators insisted on preserving funding the White House wanted to reduce in 2026.
“Importantly, passing these bills will help ensure that Congress, not President Trump and Russ Vought, decides how taxpayer dollars are spent—by once again providing hundreds of detailed spending directives and reasserting congressional control over these incredibly important spending decisions.” she said.
Member discussion