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.

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. 

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.

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.

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 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.

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.