Sen. Cruz: Over $1.2 billion in BEAD Funding to Texas Will Boost Connection

WASHINGTON D.C. – The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced the approval of Texas’ proposal to use over $1.2 billion of funding to deliver universal high-speed internet access through the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program.

Chairman Cruz’s oversight of the program under the Biden administration saved billions of taxpayer dollars, while ensuring states were not saddled with onerous mandates that prevented unserved communities from obtaining internet access.

Sen. Cruz said,“My work on the Commerce Committee to hold the BEAD program accountable has spared taxpayers from paying for internet to mansions and vacation islands while still securing over $1 billion in funding for Texas. By refocusing the program on its core mission of digital connection, instead of the Biden administration’s costly and burdensome regulation, we have freed states like Texas to responsibly use this money to expand internet access to rural communities.”

BACKGROUND:

This push for a refocused program, realized under the Trump administration, reduced regulatory burdens, drove down costs, and ensured all solutions were considered. The over $1.2 billion in BEAD funding for Texas will close the state’s connectivity gap, giving almost every location in the state on the Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Map to connect to high-speed internet for the first time. The funding is projected to connect almost 243,000 unserved and underserved homes and businesses across Texas. It will enable fiber connections for about 123,000 locations, low-earth orbit satellite service for approximately 66,000, and fixed wireless for about 54,000 sites.

In 2024, U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Ted Cruz (R-Texas) called on NTIA to pause the Biden administration’s unlawful BEAD activities. He argued that Biden’s NTIA’s renegade actions were saddling states with unnecessary mandates that were hindering efforts to expand internet access to unserved communities.

Cruz’s letter came in response to NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson’s admission that the Biden-Harris administration had spent $250 million in BEAD funding to hire government employees and contractors to administer a program that had failed to connect a single American to the internet. Cruz also published a 2023 report showing the program was wasting billions of dollars in duplicative subsidies and diverting funds away from truly unserved rural areas.

As incoming Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, Sen. Cruz committed to investigate the BEAD program, including NTIA’s extreme technology bias, imposition of rate regulation, union workforce and DEI requirements, climate change assessments, and other centralized planning directives.