Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) has asked the NTIA to pause the BEAD program’s Digital Equity Competitive Grant program funding and to withdraw the Notice Of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), believing it to be “in violation of the Fifth Amendment,” in a letter addressed to Alan Davidson.
Cruz refers to the program as being part of what he calls a “woke spending spree” from the Biden-Harris administration, taking issue with the “Covered Populations” mentioned in the NOFO, that include individual in low-income areas, aging individuals, veterans, people with disabilities or language barriers, members of a racial or ethnic minority group, and rural populations.
His particular beef is the racial or ethnic minority group language that he believes is discriminatory and in violation of the constitution.
Some in the industry were quick to respond that the Digital Equity program is part of the law that passed Congressional approval, and that Cruz cannot dictate that the law as it is written cannot be overturned by a single Senator.
“As the Digital Equity Act itself points out, broadband access and digital literacy are critical for how people ‘participate in the society, economy, and civic institutions of the United States; and access health care and essential services, obtain education, and build careers,’ said Drew Garner, Director of Policy Engagement at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, in a statement.
Garner says the bill “passed with broad bipartisan support” and believes Cruz is acting as a lone dissenter to a law already passed in Congress.
“Even Bill from the Schoolhouse Rock cartoon ‘I’m Just a Bill’ would understand that a law can’t be changed after the fact just because one Senator who voted against the legislation still doesn’t like it,” he said.
