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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) sent a letter to NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson on November 21, 2024, asserting that since the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program's inception, NTIA spent over $250 million for hiring government employees and contractors to administer this program that has not even launched. As incoming Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, Cruz said he is committed to investigating the BEAD Program, including what he says are NTIA’s extreme technology bias, imposition of rate regulation and other central planning mandates. Cruz urged NTIA to pause unlawful, extraneous BEAD activities and avoid locking states into any final actions until NTIA responds to his original inquiry and addresses these issues.
In a separate letter to Davidson the same day, Cruz asserted that the Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program’s notice of funding opportunity makes clear NTIA will consider race in awarding grants under the program, in violation of the Fifth Amendment. Cruz asked for a response by December 12, 2024, confirming the NOFO is no longer in place and NTIA halted the process of issuing grants under it, or otherwise setting forth, in detail, the reasons NTIA believes the NOFO does not violate the U.S. Constitution.
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