Sen Capito Urges Sec Lutnick to Expedite BEAD Review Process

In a letter to Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, Sen Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) asked him to expedite the review and release of updated guidance for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program and urged that West Virginia not have to redo significant portions of its application. "When the BEAD program review was initiated on March 5, my state was 6 weeks away from completing the arduous application process after so many steps including a completed fair project selection process. Removing much of the red-tape from the program in a timely manner, so that my state and all others could move forward even faster, is an ideal outcome." She added, "I am concerned that West Virginia may be told to move back from the 1-yard line to the 40-yard line after the review concludes. Many of the changes that should be made to the program can be made quickly, but as an example, reopening the subgrantee application process for ISPs could delay connecting rural Americans for another year. I also am concerned that an arbitrary one-size-fits-all cost cap could be imposed for each connection. West Virginia is the Mountain State, so connecting us may be inherently more expensive than most every other state. In addition, certain technologies are not feasible in many areas not only due to our challenging topography but also because 78 percent of the state is forested."