22 States Filed a New Suit Challenging the Trump Administration. What Does it Mean for Broadband?

When President Donald Trump created the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on the first day of his second term, he launched an initiative to reduce federal grants, contracts, and programs across Federal government agencies. As of June 3, 2025, DOGE was estimating $180 billion in "savings" as a result of these reductions. This estimate includes funding for national broadband and digital equity efforts that have been cut entirely or significantly revamped in the last two months alone. The Digital Equity Act grant programs were terminated on May 9, and the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program received new rules from Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick that change the direction of the program and require states to redo their broadband deployment plans. This week, 22 state attorneys general and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania joined together to file suit against these actions. On June 24, in a filing to the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, these state attorneys general and state officials sued a host of federal agencies––including the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, Justice, Labor, and State, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Endowment for the Humanities, and National Science Foundation––for aiding the Trump Administration in executing what they called "an unprecedented and unlawful campaign to terminate billions of dollars in critical federal funding appropriated by Congress." The states say that under the direction of DOGE, federal agencies are engaging in an unlawful "slash and burn campaign." The arguments made in this lawsuit address the limitations on the executive branch to affect Congressionally approved funding.