Lutnick Confirms No Effort to Rescind BEAD Non-Deployment Funds
Lawmakers pressed Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on why BEAD has not yet connected any households, ties to Jeffrey Epstein
WASHINGTON, Feb. 10, 2026 – Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick touted the Trump administration’s success in halving the $42 billion price tag for broadband deployment under the BEAD program, and confirmed that the government has no intention of keeping states from receiving all allocated funds–non-deployment as well as deployment.
But lawmakers pressed Lutnick on why the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program has not yet connected any households, how quickly states can move from approved plans to funding, and what NTIA plans to do with more than $20 billion in uncommitted dollars.
Democratic senators also extensively questioned him on his ties to the disgraced former financier Jeffrey Epstein.
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