Economic Development Administration (Department of Commerce)

Incomplete information can make it difficult for lawmakers to understand the effects of policy and for government entities to enforce grant recipients’ program requirements. Because federal broadband data focuses on information like the number of households with subscriptions, it lacks feedback on network quality and reliability, or on how consumers experience a broadband connection.

The Senate confirmed Paul Dabbar as the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce in 56-40 vote. In this role, he will serve as the Department’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), overseeing its day-to-day management, a $11.4 billion annual budget, 12 operating units, and 47,000 employees. He is also a member of the President’s Management Council. Most recently, Mr. Dabbar was President and CEO of Bohr Quantum Technology, where he led the development and deployment of technologies for emerging quantum networks. 

In 2022, Congress created the Tech Hubs Program to strengthen U.S. economic and national security by commercializing the technologies of the future. The investments made through this program can ensure that critical industries, companies, and jobs start, grow, and remain in the United States. At my direction, the Commerce Department is revamping the Tech Hubs program to prioritize national security, project quality, benefit to the taxpayer, and a fair process.

In the final days of the 118th Congress, two new broadband bills were passed and eventually signed into law by then-President Joe Biden. Here's a quick look at the E-BRIDGE Act and the EXPLORE Act. The new laws demonstrate how Congress understands how important broadband is to economic development and that broadband is needed everywhere—even the places we go to 'get away from it all.' 

The Senate voted 51-45 to confirm Howard Lutnick as commerce secretary, putting in place a billionaire Wall Street veteran turned avowed protectionist to lead the president’s global trade agenda. The former chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald, a financial services firm, ran the personnel operation for Trump’s presidential transition. Lutnick, age 63, took the reins at Cantor in 1991. He stepped down following the confirmation vote. President Trump has said the secretary will lead the second-term trade portfolio as well as oversee an agency of roughly 47,000 employees.

The U.S. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee overwhelmingly approved 17 bipartisan bills and the nomination of Howard Lutnick to be Secretary of Commerce. The legislation passed touches almost all aspects of the Commerce Committee’s wide jurisdiction including transportation, weather and emergency forecasting, consumer protection and fee transparency, manufacturing and supply-chain resilience, oceans and fisheries, promoting tourism, and protecting children online. In addition to the nomination of Howard Lutnick, the committee approved bills including:

The Eliminating Barriers to Rural Internet Development Grant Eligibility (E-BRIDGE) Act, was signed into law in early January as part of the ‘larger Thomas R. Carper Water Resources Development Act of 2024 (S. 4367). This bill authorizes the Economic Development Administration (EDA), which is part of the Department of Commerce, to award economic development grants to public-private partnerships or related consortiums to implement broadband infrastructure projects.

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution, an amendment essential to the success of our Republic, enshrines the right of the American people to speak freely in the public square without Government interference.  Over the last 4 years, the previous administration trampled free speech rights by censoring Americans’ speech on online platforms, often by exerting substantial coercive pressure on third parties, such as social media companies, to moderate, deplatform, or otherwise suppress speech that the Federal Government did not approve.

Heads of all departments and agencies in the executive branch of Government shall, as soon as practicable, take all necessary steps to terminate remote work arrangements and require employees to return to work in-person at their respective duty stations on a full-time basis, provided that the department and agency heads shall make exemptions they deem necessary.

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby order all executive departments and agencies to take the following steps: