Capito Pushes Lutnick to 'Expedite' BEAD Revamp to Avoid Delays
Senate Public Works Committee Chair Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., is pressing the Commerce Department and Secretary Howard Lutnick “to expedite not only the review and release of updated guidance” for NTIA's $42.5 billion BEAD initiative, “but the program as a whole.” Capito, who's also a Commerce Committee member, previously raised concerns that the review of BEAD, which Lutnick started, could unnecessarily delay NTIA's rollout of funding to West Virginia (see 2503050067). Senate Commerce Democrats have sharply criticized the Trump administration's BEAD plans, citing them in April as a reason to vote against NTIA administrator nominee Arielle Roth (see 2504090037).
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“When the BEAD program review was initiated on March 5, my state was 6 weeks away from completing the arduous application process after so many steps, including a completed fair project selection process,” Capito said in a letter to Lutnick released Wednesday. “Removing much of the red-tape from the program in a timely manner, so that my state and all others could move forward even faster, is an ideal outcome.” She echoed other Republicans’ complaints that the Biden administration “burdened states and [ISPs] with unnecessary mandates like labor requirements, climate change provisions, and some cumbersome financial requirements and did not connect a single location through BEAD. You can succeed where the previous administration failed and deliver this service quickly and efficiently to millions of Americans primarily in rural areas.”
Capito said she remains “concerned that West Virginia may be told to move back from the 1-yard line to the 40-yard line after the review concludes. Many of the changes that should be made to the program can be made quickly, but as an example, reopening the subgrantee application process for ISPs could delay connecting rural Americans for another year.” She's also “concerned that an arbitrary one-size-fits-all cost cap could be imposed for each connection.” West Virginia residents “have waited long enough, and I hope with your leadership they will soon have broadband access and this will be President [Donald] Trump['s] and your greatest accomplishment for rural America,” Capito said.
Commerce and NTIA didn’t immediately comment.
The Trump administration has begun proposing broadband funding cuts elsewhere in the federal government, including zeroing out the Agriculture Department's rural broadband funding. “No new USDA funding is needed for broadband expansion, as existing balances and other Federal resources are meeting planned growth,” the White House OMB said in a FY 2026 discretionary budget request Friday, which also called for ending federal CPB funding (see 2505020044). “The Budget would also eliminate programs that are duplicative, too small to have macro-economic impact, costly to deliver, in limited demand, available through the private sector, or conceived as temporary.”