Senate Invokes Cloture on NTIA Nominee Roth 50-34
The Senate voted 50-34 Thursday to invoke cloture on NTIA administrator nominee Arielle Roth, setting the stage for her confirmation next week. The vote divided largely along party lines, with Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania the only Democrat to back Roth, as expected. All Senate Commerce Democrats except Fetterman voted against advancing Roth in April amid frustrations about the Trump administration's plan for administering NTIA’s $42.5 billion BEAD program. President Donald Trump nominated Roth in February.
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Senate Commerce President Ted Cruz, R-Texas, praised Roth on the floor ahead of the cloture vote. She had worked for Cruz as the Communications Subcommittee’s chief GOP counsel. “I can attest that there is no one better to lead [NTIA] and advise [Trump] on telecommunications issues,” Cruz said. She “will play an integral role in the management of the federal government’s use of [spectrum and will] work closely with federal agencies to protect uses” of airwaves, including for defense and weather forecasting, while also identifying frequencies for reallocation. “American leadership in spectrum is vital to the security of global telecommunications networks, to our own national security and to our economic success,” he said.
Cruz also pointed to Roth’s coming role in the Trump administration’s “new course” on administering BEAD following NTIA’s June release of an updated program notice of funding opportunity that reversed much of what the Biden administration developed in the initiative’s initial rules. With Roth “at the helm of NTIA, I have no doubt that BEAD will succeed in its mission connecting Americans to the internet as expeditiously and efficiently as possible,” Cruz said.