Universal Broadband

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.' 

The Trump administration will overhaul a $42 billion federal grant program aimed at expanding high-speed internet to the nation, including easing some rules that could benefit Elon Musk’s satellite internet service, Starlink. The program will be revamped to “take a tech-neutral approach” in its distribution of funds to states, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced that his department is “ripping out” the “pointless requirements” inserted by former President Joe Biden into a major broadband program that is set to deliver high-speed internet to millions of Americans. Some broadband analysts have shared Lutnick’s frustration with the requirements in BEAD, which has been in planning and contracting for three years.

Rep Richard Hudson (R-NC), who serves as the Chairman of the Communications and Technology Subcommittee on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, led Republican members of the subcommittee in introducing the 

Rep Stacy Plaskett (D-VI) and Rep Russ Fulcher (R-ID) reintroduced legislation (H.R.3385) to request an assessment of the value, cost, and feasibility of developing a Trans-Atlantic submarine fiber optic cable that will connect the East coast of the United States, via the United States Virgin Islands, with Nigeria and Ghana. Presently, there is no direct fiber optic link between the US and the continent of Africa.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) says he hopes to bring a resolution to the Senate to repeal the funding of Internet hot spots from the E-Rate Program, which is part of the Federal Communications Commission’s Universal Service Fund. The original support for funding hot spots came from a July 2024 vote of the FCC under then-Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel to allow the E-Rate program to pay for hot spots.