On December 11, 2025, President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order titled "Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence." The following statement may be attributed to Benton Institute for Broadband & Society Executive Director Dr. Revati Prasad:

"The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society strongly condemns President Trump’s Executive Order, which could deny Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program funds to any state that has established AI consumer protections.

"This action is likely unlawful and deeply harmful to the goal Congress set in the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act: connecting every location in America to reliable, affordable, high-speed internet. This action has the effect of punishing and depriving rural America based on an unrelated policy argument regarding AI regulation. Moreover, the action will have a perverse effect; while claiming to support AI opportunity, it will instead deny rural households and businesses the very connectivity that they need to participate in the AI economy and benefit from AI innovations.

"Congress was explicit. BEAD funds are to be distributed to states to support broadband deployment and “non-deployment” activities, such as workforce development, broadband adoption, affordability, and planning. Nowhere did Congress authorize the President to condition those funds on unrelated state policy choices, much less to punish states for exercising their traditional powers to regulate emerging technologies. 

"The harm will fall squarely on the rural households and businesses to which BEAD was designed to bring opportunity on par with the rest of America.

"The Benton Institute urges Congress, state leaders, and the courts to reject this executive overreach. Broadband policy should be guided by law and the public interest, not used as a political weapon to strong-arm states out of protecting consumers or derail a once-in-a-generation effort to achieve universal connectivity. and parity for rural communities."

The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that all people in the U.S. have access to competitive, High-Performance Broadband regardless of where they live or who they are. We believe communication policy - rooted in the values of access, equity, and diversity - has the power to deliver new opportunities and strengthen communities.

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Kevin Taglang
Executive Editor, Communications-related Headlines
Benton Institute
for Broadband & Society
1041 Ridge Rd, Unit 214
Wilmette, IL 60091
847-220-4531
headlines AT benton DOT org

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Broadband Delivers Opportunities and Strengthens Communities