House Commerce Committee Democrats Press NTIA Administrator on BEAD Funding Updates & Stress Trump Executive Orders Do Not Supersede Federal Law

House Commerce Committee Democratic leaders wrote a follow-up letter to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration demanding that it abide by the law and disperse Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program funding as intended by Congress—after not receiving any response to an initial letter sent on November 25, 2025. The follow-up letter comes one day before NTIA was supposed to issue guidance on an illegal Trump Executive Order that threatened to withhold some BEAD funding from states that pass laws to protect their residents against the harms of artificial intelligence. “We also remind you that executive orders issued by the President do not supersede federal law. They certainly do not empower NTIA to impound billions of dollars—in full or on a state-by-state basis—that Congress authorized and appropriated to achieve specific policy outcomes, including universal connectivity, affordability, scalable infrastructure, and broadband adoption,” the lawmakers wrote. "Any effort to restrict or withhold funds because a state or territory has adopted laws or regulations to protect against harms from artificial intelligence is blatantly unlawful and a clear impoundment of appropriated funds. NTIA should not risk tying up the BEAD Program in years of legal challenges and further delaying its already overdue implementation.”