UPDATE Senate Commerce Committee Democrats are signaling they plan to ask hard questions of new NTIA administrator pick Arielle Roth through her confirmation process, given their doubts about how the agency-administered, $42.5 billion BEAD program will fare under Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary nominee, reports Communications Daily. The committee advanced Lutnick’s nomination to the full senate yesterday (16-12) with full GOP support. Cruz anticipates Lutnick could be confirmed as Commerce Secretary as early as next week, notes Broadband Breakfast.
Roth criticized the BEAD program’s emphasis on fiber in June at a Federalist Society event. She also said it was bogged down with additional regulatory burdens, according to Broadband Breakfast. “The NTIA has just been preoccupied with attaching all kinds of extra legal requirements on BEAD and, you know, honest to honest, a woke social agenda, loading up all kinds of burdens that deter participation in the program and drive up costs,” Roth said.
“Roth’s work with Senator Ted Cruz on BEAD is especially encouraging, illuminating a path to correct that off-track program,” said David Zumwalt, President and chief executive officer of WISPA – The Association for Broadband Without Boundaries. “WISPA hopes NTIA under her guidance will bring BEAD back to the tech-neutral intent of its enabling legislation, the 2021 [Infrastructure Law], and thus excise those elements which would lead to wasteful overbuilding and keep small players out of the program,” Zumwalt said. “WISPA believes such modification could be simply achieved by allowing all technologies which can meet IIJA baselines fully into the program, giving states a greater chance of success in getting all connected quickly and cost-effectively,” said Zumwalt.
During last week’s nomination hearing, responding to a question from Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) on the importance of reforming the BEAD program, Lutnick said: “I’m going to work to make sure that Congress gets the benefit of the bargain. You want to get right, broadband into the hands of low income people. Let’s go do it, but let’s do it efficiently and let’s do it swiftly, let’s use satellites, let’s use wireless, and let’s use fiber, and let’s do it the cheapest, most efficiently we can. And I commit to working with you to make sure the states execute and deliver on the promise that Congress has made.”
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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