Congress is letting states hoard broadband billions
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COMMENTARY | The restructured BEAD program will save taxpayer money, but some governments want to hold onto that cash rather than return it to their residents.
The Trump administration’s retooling of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program has already saved taxpayers tens of billions of dollars — but some members of Congress are brazenly trying to let states pocket that leftover money instead of returning it to the people who paid for it.
West Virginia Republic Sen. Shelley Moore Capito is leading the charge for West Virginia to claim every dollar of its $1.2 billion allocation, even though the state plans to spend barely half on actual broadband deployment.
“I hope we get our $1.2 billion,” she said on a radio show in September. “I’m going to hold the Trump administration’s feet to the fire. This is what we were promised. This is what we should get.”
Department of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, whose department oversees the National Telecommunications and Information Administration that administers BEAD, has touted “the benefit of the bargain” in the new rules that will allow alternative technologies such as satellite and fixed wireless to be used in locations where fiber is too expensive an option to connect the unserved and underserved through the program. States rebid the projects under the new rules and have seen much lower costs.
The Taxpayers Protection Alliance previously reported on some of the dramatic savings, including noting that North Carolina will save nearly $1.1 billion after the rebid. Massachusetts will use just 12% of its BEAD allocation to deploy broadband, or just $18 million of the $147 million allocated to the state. Other states, such as Mississippi and Kentucky, will conserve more than $600 million in deployment costs after the rule changes.
Under former President Joe Biden’s administration, states would have been allowed to spend surplus funds on internet-related initiatives such as digital literacy and workforce training. The NTIA rescinded approval of non-deployment activities in the initial state proposals as the administration retooled BEAD. States are now waiting on guidance from the Trump administration NTIA on what to do with leftover money.
Ten Democratic members of Congress sent a letter to Lutnick and NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth in August urging more clarity in non-deployment uses for leftover BEAD funds, arguing that “long-term success requires parallel investments in the foundation non-deployment activities that enable effective implementation and adoption.”
The Advanced Communications Law & Policy Institute at New York Law School found in an analysis of state challenge data that unserved or underserved locations have decreased by 59% across the United States since allocations were set in 2023 (and before a single dollar has been distributed by NTIA). ACLP suggests that NTIA create more narrowly defined non-deployment uses by states. It initially suggested that NTIA develop a plan for shuffling money from states with surplus funds to those who might need more, but all states are coming in under budget.
As Roth noted at the SCTE TechExpo, these savings come from increased participation, lower per-location costs, and smarter use of technology. Her point underscores a simple truth: forcing states to overspend on fiber where cheaper solutions work is wasteful and unfair to Americans footing the bill.
Roth also made clear that the previous administration’s focus on climate mandates, rate regulation and technology preferences distracted from the core goal of connecting every American. The new rules — requiring rebids and allowing flexible technologies like satellite and fixed wireless — are common-sense measures to protect taxpayer dollars. Congress should follow Roth’s lead and make sure these savings are returned to taxpayers rather than hoarded by states.
Language in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 that created BEAD complicates the matter by stating that unused deployment money should stay with the states. It is clear that Congress allocated too much money to the program from the start. Rather than push for states to keep the largesse, members of Congress should work to claw back the funds. Taxpayers deserve nothing less.
Johnny Kampis is director of telecom policy for the Taxpayers Protection Alliance.