Friday, March 7, 2025
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House Republicans Propose Changes to the BEAD Program
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On March 5, 2025, Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC), the chairman of the House Communications and Technology Subcommittee, introduced the Streamlining Program Efficiency and Expanding Deployment (SPEED) for BEAD Act (H.R. 1870), legislation that would amend the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to make changes to the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. Chairman Hudson was joined by 14 Republican cosponsors, including many (though not all) of the Republicans on his subcommittee. Although there have been a number of complaints about the program, this is the first major legislative proposal to change BEAD. Here's a look at SPEED for BEAD's main provisions.

Congress established the BEAD program to ensure everyone, everywhere has access to high-quality broadband, with affordability as a top priority. This has become even more urgent following the end of the Affordable Connectivity Program last year, which left millions of households without essential support for education, career opportunities, and healthcare access. We must remain committed to prioritizing affordability and equal access. After all, BEAD without equity is just BAD.

In the final days of the 118th Congress, two new broadband bills were passed and eventually signed into law by then-President Joe Biden. Here's a quick look at the E-BRIDGE Act and the EXPLORE Act. The new laws demonstrate how Congress understands how important broadband is to economic development and that broadband is needed everywhere—even the places we go to 'get away from it all.'

On March 4, the House of Representatives' Commerce Committee, chaired by Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY), held a full committee markup to consider twelve bills in total––the committee's first legislative markup of the 119th Congress. "This Committee has a rich, bipartisan history, which we will continue in that spirit with the bills we are considering today," said Rep Guthrie in his opening remarks. "Each of these bipartisan pieces of legislation was passed by the House last Congress, and I am proud that we will be moving these forward again today." Here, we look at the seven communications-related bills that are now teed up for a vote from the full House.

Reps Kat Cammack (R-FL) and Doris Matsui (D-CA) introduced the Deploying Infrastructure with Greater Internet Transactions and Legacy Applications Act (DIGITAL Applications Act). The bill establishes online portals for the acceptance, processing, and disposal of a Form 299 for communications use authorizations at the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture. Form 299s are used for permitting related to communications technology.
Sens Luján, Rosen, Markey Introduce Legislation to Prevent the Political Weaponization of the FCC, Protect First Amendment

Sens Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Edward J. Markey (D-MA) announced the introduction of the Broadcast Freedom and Independence Act, legislation that would prohibit the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from revoking broadcast licenses or taking action against broadcasters based on the viewpoints they broadcast. The legislation would reaffirm the importance of the independence of the FCC, including that the President should not mandate the FCC’s agenda. Reps Doris Matsui (D-CA), Nanette Barragán (D-CA), and Jennifer McClellan (D-VA) lead companion legislation in the House. Specifically, the Broadcast Freedom and Independence Act would:
- Explicitly state that the FCC is an independent agency and that they must not use their authority to execute politically motivated attacks against licensees.
- Prohibit the FCC from taking action (including revoking any license or authorization) against any person based on the viewpoints disseminated.
- Prohibit the FCC from placing conditions based on viewpoint disseminated on any transaction approval.

The United States Department of Agriculture released a Notice of Funding Opportunity for the Community Connect Grant Program for fiscal year 2025. The USDA’s Rural Utilities Service estimates that approximately $26 million in grants will be available to eligible applicants this year. The Community Connect Grant Program offers financial support to qualified applicants that will deliver broadband services at or above the grant’s specified speed to all premises in rural, economically challenged communities that lack internet access. Establishing broadband services with a focus on “community-oriented connectivity” fosters economic growth and expands access to improved education and healthcare opportunities in these regions, the agency stated in its NOFO announcement and grant guidelines.

Vermont Community Broadband Board (VCBB) is proud to announce the kickoff of its Digital Empowerment Plan. The DE Plan is the way Vermont will make sure every Vermonter has high-quality, accessible, affordable technology resources and knows how to use them. Vermont’s DE Plan has five parts: research to understand what’s needed, devices for people who need them, a Digital Navigator Program to provide resources and teach digital skills, workforce training to maximize digital opportunity, and grants to organizations representing and serving Vermonters negatively impacted by the digital divide. These grants will support organizations to scale their capacity to provide services complementary to Vermont's Digital Empowerment plan. The goal is to support and improve existing efforts in a sustainable way.Vermont was awarded $5.3 million in federal funding to implement its DE Plan. You can read the DE Plan, including a plan summary and translation into 14 languages and an ASL video summary, at our website.

The fate of a $24.5 million broadband project in Minnesota came down to one vote at a City Council meeting. Seven council members faced a choice: forge ahead with an ambitious plan to build a city-owned municipal broadband network, or heed a last-minute request from telecommunications giant Charter Communications to pause the project. In a 4-3 vote, the City Council opted to continue work on the Connect Wilmar Initiative, a project to build an open-access, city-owned fiber optic network. The project’s supporters said their goal is providing high-speed internet access to every home and business in Willmar, an agricultural city of about 21,000 known for its nearby lakes. The network’s estimated $24.5 million in construction costs would be paid via bonds. Internet service providers would pay leasing fees to use the city’s network, revenue that Willmar would use to pay back the bonds, according to an explainer for the project.
Senators Raise Alarm About Reports of X Officials Leveraging Musk’s Government Position to Drive Ad Revenue

Five US Senators wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi, raising concerns about reports that Elon Musk’s social media company “X” (formerly Twitter) is leveraging his influential position in the Trump Administration to extract revenue from advertisers. If Musk uses his government position to protect those who engage in business with him—or harm those who do not—then he risks running afoul of criminal ethics laws. The Department of Justice (DOJ) would be responsible for investigating a potential criminal violation of federal ethics laws. In 2023, a wave of advertisers withdrew ads from X after Musk “endorsed an antisemitic post” and loosened content moderation rules in ways that increased inflammatory content on the platform, reportedly costing the company as much as $75 million in ad revenue that year. In 2024, as Musk prepared to begin his new role in the federal government, an attorney at X allegedly demanded that the advertising conglomerate Interpublic Group “get its clients to spend more on Elon Musk’s social-media platform, or else.”

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr announced the tentative agenda for the March Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, March 27, 2025:
- Exploring Alternatives to GPS: The FCC will consider a Notice of Inquiry that would engage a wide range of stakeholders to build a record on specific actions it can take to help develop complements and alternatives to the Global Positioning System with the goal of ensuring robust and reliable Positioning, Navigation, and Timing technologies and solutions.
- Ensuring NG911 Resiliency, Reliability, Interoperability, and Accessibility: The Commission will consider a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to safeguard the nation’s Next Generation 911 transition by ensuring the reliability and interoperability of NG911 networks.
- Strengthening 911 Location Accuracy Rules: The FCC will consider a Sixth Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that proposes to strengthen caller location accuracy requirements for wireless calls to 911.
- Restricted Adjudicatory Matter: The Commission will consider a restricted adjudicatory matter from the Media Bureau.

Federal Communications Commissioner Nathan Simington delivered remarks at the ACA Connects 2025 Summit, where he discussed the priorities of the FCC under the new administration. Commissioner Simington, a Republican, said the FCC is “grappling with some problems right now that were left unaddressed for the last few years.” He added that he personally was “unhappy with some directions [the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program] took in the last administration.” Simington said that the FCC under the new administration was focused on practical solutions and getting things done. He praised the proactivity of the new Trump administration, noting how quickly FCC Chairman Brendan Carr was appointed and how much he has already set out to accomplish.

Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins delivered remarks to hundreds of local leaders at the National Association of Counties. She spoke about vision for restoring rural prosperity to America. "We will ensure that USDA’s Rural Development programs are running as efficiently and effectively as possible to support the people they are intended to serve. We are carefully considering how we can improve programs to incentivize greater growth. We will invite the private sector to participate in this national endeavor, encouraging innovative solutions such as satellite internet, new and better healthcare options, and excellent childcare and schools, among many other ideas."

US cable operators have been struggling to regain their footing in broadband as they try to grow subscribers again in the midst of an array of pressures including fiber and fixed wireless access competition, a slow housing move market and the impact of the end of the Affordable Connectivity Program. Several US cable operators are responding by leaning into convergence. They are linking home broadband with mobile, exploring new convergence packages that make both more competitive, and upgrading networks to support multi-gigabit speeds, lower latencies and improved reliability. They are also using fiber-to-the-premises in new builds (subsidized and otherwise) and fiber on a targeted basis in its existing hybrid fiber/coax footprint. But the pressurized scenario that cable is facing today is fine and dandy with AT&T, a company that is expanding its fiber strategy alongside a small and targeted FWA offering that's being used to catch copper subs and hit areas where AT&T doesn't have a fiber presence.

President Donald Trump convened his Cabinet in person to deliver a message: You’re in charge of your departments, not Elon Musk. According to two administration officials, Trump told top members of his administration that Musk was empowered to make recommendations to the departments but not to issue unilateral decisions on staffing and policy. Musk was also in the room. The meeting followed a series of mass firings and threats to government workers from the billionaire Tesla founder, who helms the Department of Government Efficiency, that created broad uncertainty across the federal government and its workforce. DOGE’s actions have faced ferocious resistance in court and criticism from Democratic lawmakers and some Republicans. The president’s message represents the first significant move to narrow Musk’s mandate.
Benton (www.benton.org) provides the only free, reliable, and non-partisan daily digest that curates and distributes news related to universal broadband, while connecting communications, democracy, and public interest issues. Posted Monday through Friday, this service provides updates on important industry developments, policy issues, and other related news events. While the summaries are factually accurate, their sometimes informal tone may not always represent the tone of the original articles. Headlines are compiled by Kevin Taglang (headlines AT benton DOT org), Grace Tepper (grace AT benton DOT org), and Zoe Walker (zwalker AT benton DOT org) — we welcome your comments.
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