Sen Schmitt Letter to NTIA Assistant Secretary Davidson on "Covert Broadband Rate Regulation"

A June 11 letter to National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Assistant Secretary Alan Davidson about the unlawful pressure campaign on states by the Biden Administration to regulate broadband rates through the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. It is my priority to hold this Administration accountable for its propensity to act with impunity. As Secretary Raimondo stated recently at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, this Administration is 'decidedly not engaging in rate regulation.' Yet, when talking about balancing the requirements of no rate regulation with maintaining an affordable low-cost, the Secretary said that the Commerce Department isn’t requiring states propose a specific “$30 or $40 option”, but that states “have to satisfy us” of what is a low-cost option to get approved.