- Sen. Ted Cruz sent two snarky letters to the head of the NTIA, one specifically related to BEAD
- He doesn’t like many aspects of BEAD, including the preference for fiber
- He also dislikes digital equity
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) seems to hate many things about the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which Congress passed in 2021 with bipartisan support. Cruz’s hatred could presage rocky times for the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program next year because he is likely to head up the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee when Republicans take majority control of the Senate in January.
Last week, Cruz sent two letters to Alan Davidson, who oversees the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). One letter specifically targeted the Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program included in the IIJA. Cruz doesn’t want NTIA to distribute $1.25 billion in grants to non-profits to support digital inclusion activities. He claims that the NTIA's plans to consider the race of the program’s beneficiaries when issuing grant awards violates the Fifth Amendment's due process clause.
Cruz sent another letter to Davidson urging him to pause what he called NTIA’s “unlawful” activities related to BEAD, which also came out of the IIJA.
The letter regarding BEAD is especially concerning for the fiber industry, which has been involved in the program since its inception. NTIA just announced last week that all 56 states and territories have had their BEAD Initial Proposals approved, and at least one state, Louisiana, has started awarding BEAD grants.
But Cruz seems intent on disrupting the program. In his letter, Cruz warned that Congress will review the BEAD program early next year, and he alluded to possible changes including getting rid of the preference for fiber; the requirement for an affordable option for low-income recipients; worker-protection guardrails; and climate change assessments.
“Fortunately, as President-elect Trump has already signaled, substantial changes are on the horizon for this program,” wrote Cruz. “With anticipated new leadership at both NTIA and in Congress, the BEAD program will soon be ‘unburdened by what has been.’”
In response to Cruz’s letter about the Digital Equity Grant Program, Gigi Sohn, executive director of the American Association for Public Broadband, posted on LinkedIn, “Not wasting any time, Senate Commerce Chair-to-be Sen. Ted Cruz wrote a long screed urging NTIA to halt its Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program, which would provide resources to organizations that help the country's most vulnerable populations get online. I won't get into his novel theory as to why the entire program is unconstitutional. I'll just say that everything he complains about is MANDATED BY THE LAW. No, he didn't vote for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, but that doesn't give him the ability to undermine it.”
Sohn’s point is valid in that even though Cruz seems to hate the IIJA, it is the current law. If he wants to change it he’ll have to do so through votes in Congress. And while that may be possible with Republican control of the House, Senate and Executive, it will still require a process. And it’s unknown whether revisiting IIJA is a top priority for other lawmakers.
Check out our coverage of what else the coming Trump administration could mean for BEAD here.