Cruz Creating Detours on the Road to Internet For All

Through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Congress and the Biden Administration created the “Internet for All” Initiative, a $65 billion investment to ensure all Americans can access affordable, reliable, and high-speed internet. But with new leadership coming to the White House and the U.S. Senate in January, the promise of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act may not be realized. On November 21, 2024, incoming Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-TX), sent a pair of letters to the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the Executive Branch agency charged with implementing the broadband provisions of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The letters—one about the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, and the other about the Digital Equity Act—effectively instruct NTIA to ignore the law and halt progress towards universal connectivity in the U.S. Here we take a look at Sen. Cruz's letters and their potential impact.