Chair praises NTIA BEAD reforms, urges use of savings for NG911 as FirstNet reauthorization moves forward

The chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce opened an oversight hearing with NTIA Administrator Ariel Roth on the agency’s handling of the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program and public-safety communications.

The chair told Roth the BEAD program—authorized at about $42.45 billion—was intended to connect remaining unserved and underserved Americans but, the chair said, the prior administration’s rules produced delays and limited approvals: "in three years, they only approved three state proposals, and zero homes were connected," the chair said, attributing those figures to the prior program implementation.

Why it matters: Committee leaders framed the hearing as an opportunity to review recent NTIA reforms and decide how to allocate BEAD funds that are not used for deployment. Those choices would affect broadband deployment strategies and possible public-safety investments such as next-generation 911 (NG911).

The chair credited Administrator Roth and NTIA staff with restructuring BEAD to remove requirements the chair described as burdensome—citing removal of a technology preference, rate regulation of broadband plans, and certain labor and climate conditions—and said those changes led to a new round of state bids that approved 54 final proposals and connected homes in two states. "Administrator Roth and her team have done incredible work to save taxpayer dollars," the chair said.

The chair provided a concrete example from Washington, D.C.: NTIA staff reportedly visited proposed BEAD project sites and found items the chair described as poor deployments, including a field house, a construction trailer, a gated Pepco utility building, a shed near Amtrak tracks and an open field off the George Washington Parkway. The chair said those reviews produced a determination that D.C. had zero unserved or underserved locations needing BEAD funding and cited an approximate figure of $70,000 per location for the questionable proposals.

On funding remaining from proposals that will not be deployed, the chair said some of the savings—which the chair characterized as "over $20 billion"—should be considered for nationwide NG911 deployment, arguing that an Internet Protocol–based 911 system would enable advanced tools for the public and first responders and would align with the infrastructure law’s intent. The chair acknowledged that other committee members have proposed alternate uses, including telecommunications workforce development and permitting assistance, and said the hearing should clarify NTIA’s plans for those funds.

The chair also reviewed NTIA’s role in public-safety communications and in overseeing FirstNet, the First Responder Network Authority, noting the House recently passed a reauthorization bill extending FirstNet’s authorization to September 2037 and proposing to bring the authority under NTIA. The chair referenced a district visit where Administrator Roth observed FirstNet use in Alamance County.

What was not resolved: The chair repeatedly presented program totals and outcomes as committee claims rather than agency-consolidated facts; the hearing opening did not include NTIA responses to those assertions, and no formal votes or directives were recorded in the opening remarks.

The committee will continue the oversight process and expect NTIA to explain its implementation choices and how it plans to use BEAD savings; Senate action remains pending on the FirstNet reauthorization bill.