Cantwell, Other Senate Commerce Democrats Consider Opposing Roth Over BEAD
Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell of Washington and several more panel Democrats indicated Thursday that they are undecided or may vote against NTIA nominee Arielle Roth amid frustration over the nominee's responses to questions about how she plans to revamp the agency’s $42.5 billion BEAD program. Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Cruz of Texas and other committee Republicans signaled during the sparsely attended hearing that they strongly back Roth, who has been their telecom policy director. Republican and Democratic Senate Commerce members used the hearing to sound off on the Biden administration’s handling of BEAD and reemphasize their positions on protracted negotiations on a potential spectrum legislative package, as expected (see 2503250055).
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Cruz told us after the session that he intends to “move expeditiously” to advance Roth but didn’t have a timeline yet for bringing her up for a panel vote. Roth will likely advance out of Senate Commerce, where Republicans hold a 15-13 majority, with unanimous or nearly unanimous support from GOP members, lobbyists told us. Cruz urged her to move ahead with excising requirements NTIA included in BEAD’s notice of funding opportunity during the Biden administration, when they believe have hindered its implementation.
“We have an opportunity to strip away the fluff” in BEAD’s rules “and redirect the program back to its core mission of connecting Americans to broadband,” Cruz said. He criticized the Biden-era NTIA for creating “partisan requirements like climate resiliency and rate regulation over connecting those who are offline. Such requirements had virtually nothing to do with BEAD’s intended purpose.” Cruz and 12 other panel Republicans also urged Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick Thursday to eliminate “extraneous, burdensome” BEAD rules.
Roth committed during the hearing to “finish the job of expanding broadband access to unserved communities,” primarily through BEAD. “NTIA has a responsibility to ensure that these funds are spent efficiently, expeditiously and consistent with the law as written by Congress” in the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, she said. “I want the BEAD program to be a success. I want to connect every remaining American who currently lacks access to high-speed internet as expeditiously, efficiently and effectively as possible.”
Roth repeatedly committed to “follow the law” in implementing BEAD but wouldn’t make more specific pledges, because she won’t have full access to program information until she takes office. Roth notably refused to commit to Democrats’ requests that NTIA not rescind or modify existing BEAD funding allocations to approved states or to delay paying out that money amid Lutnick’s ongoing review of the initiative (see 2503050067).
'One More Chance'
Cantwell told reporters after the hearing that she plans to give Roth “one more chance” to offer more specifics about her BEAD views, but if the nominee still “can't answer” those queries, “then I can't support her.” Cantwell wished Roth “would have been more committed to the [BEAD] money,” which will remain “a big issue for me.” Roth insists “she wants to adhere to what the law says, but I don't know what her interpretation of that is going to be,” Cantwell said. “I think it's going to be a very important question” for Democrats.
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., told us he plans to vote against Roth but emphasized that he's opposing all President Donald Trump’s nominees. “I didn't get the definitive answers I wanted to my questions, but I will be following her actions very closely,” he said. Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., indicated that they were undecided about Roth but noted mild dissatisfaction with her responses to their BEAD questions. “She was awfully vague, hedging a lot” about her plans for the program, Baldwin said.
Markey in part asked Roth whether states should “just stop accepting applications” for payouts from their BEAD allocations “and indefinitely pause their program” while Lutnick’s review progresses. He noted that Massachusetts “began accepting applications from providers in January” for its $147 million in BEAD funding and asked Roth to “commit to a quick timeline” for Lutnick to complete his review. Roth said she couldn’t pledge a specific timeline, but the goal is an “expeditious” process.
Markey and Cruz separately tussled over how a BEAD revamp could benefit SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. Changes to BEAD rules to deprioritize funding for fiber projects could lead to more of the money going to satellite services like SpaceX’s Starlink. Markey worried the Trump administration aimed to turn “the program into a subsidy for [Musk] under the guise of making the program ‘technology neutral.’” Roth responded that she would “administer the law consistent with the statute and to the benefit of the American people, not for any specific individual or company. I do believe that Congress wrote [IIJA] in a technology-neutral manner.”
Cruz later countered Markey, saying the Biden administration had been “blacklisting Starlink because they dislike” Musk, “which had the consequence of denying many Americans that connectivity and claimed it was somehow consistent with the statute.” If Musk “had decided to be a ginormous Democrat donor, I have no doubt the Biden administration would have pulled out a piñata and celebrated Starlink providing broadband,” Cruz said.