Nevada senators press Trump for refresh on broadband access program

Democratic members of Congress, including Nevada Sens. Jackie Rosen, top right, and Catherine Cortez Masto, two from right in middle row, listen as President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. Photo by: Ben Curtis / AP

In December, Nevada laid out its plan for Phase III of a $416 million grant the state received from then-President Joe Biden’s administration to bring high-speed internet to more than 50,000 unserved locations in every county of the state. 

By January, President Donald Trump issued an executive order asking for funds to be halted from the bill that appropriated the grant money, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The project has faced an unclear future since then. 

Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., with a group of 11 colleagues, including Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., sent a letter Friday to Trump demanding follow-through on the allocated funding for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program. 

“To unlock the full strength of the U.S. economy, every community must have access to the vast opportunities enabled by broadband,” the senators wrote. “And this can be achieved by your Administration following the law as outlined in the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.” 

In March, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced a “rigorous review” of the broadband program for what he described as a goal of cutting government red tape. It was the last time he issued a public comment on the matter. 

“Because of the prior Administration’s woke mandates, favoritism towards certain technologies, and burdensome regulations,”  Lutnick said in his statement at the time. “The program has not connected a single person to the internet and is in dire need of a readjustment.”

That action was commended by Senate Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota. The senators alleged the program had restrictive labor requirements that disadvantaged rural communities, provisions favoring government-owned networks over private investment and guidelines that prioritize certain technologies over others and contradict congressional pursuit of tech-neutrality. 

The sweeping infrastructure bill also included the Digital Equity Act, which awarded $2.75 billion to establish three grant programs that “promote digital equity and inclusion.” Nevada had issued an 82-page plan for bridging digital disparities in March of last year that was accepted by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. After that, the state received over $9 million in June for the project. 

Trump, on a crusade against diversity, equity and inclusion programs, announced on Truth Social earlier this month that he spoke with Lutnick and was ending the program.

“No more woke handouts based on race!” Trump wrote. “The Digital Equity Program is a RACIST and ILLEGAL $2.5 BILLION DOLLAR giveaway. I am ending this IMMEDIATELY.”

The landing page for the act run by the telecommunications agency now just reads “access denied.” 

The BEAD program includes $3 billion solely for tribal communities and in Nevada, that was designated for 11 tribes including the Shoshone-Paiute of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation on the border with Idaho and the Te-Moak of Western Shoshone in the state’s northeastern region.  

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act bill that housed the BEAD provisions passed in 2021 with a 228-206 vote in the House and 69-30 in the Senate, which includes 13 House Republicans and 19 Senate Republicans in support of the legislation. Nevada’s lone Republican Mark Amodei voted against the bill.  

The project had been approved in January, which Rosen asked Lutnick about during his confirmation hearing at the tail-end of that month. It was fresh off the Office of Management and Budget’s guidance that froze federal spending on grants and loans — a matter still contested some 100 days later. Rosen said it was a yearslong planning process for Nevada and asked if Lutnick could confirm the state would receive its fully allocated amount of BEAD funding. 

“I am totally committed to that,” Lutnick replied. “But I want to make sure it's done efficiently and effectively.” 

The BEAD Progress Dashboard, also overseen by the NTIA, was last updated on April 28 and lists Nevada as one of the leading states in terms of progress among the 56 entities eligible for the program. The state is among three where the proposal was approved; its internet service provider section is complete and its final proposal has been released for public comment.