The issue of timely broadband deployment continues to garner significant attention and concern from the U.S. Congress. Over the course of the past several weeks hearings have been held and several Bills have been introduced designed to accelerate broadband deployment across the Country.
On February 12, 2026, the Senate Commerce Committee approved S. 2585 entitled the MAP for Broadband Funding Act (Act) which is designed to improve the Broadband Funding Map (BFM) to ensure the most efficient use of federal funds for broadband deployment. The Act requires the FCC, in coordination with NTIA, to collect data submitted for the BFM by relevant Federal Agencies on a timely basis in order to promote the most efficient use of Federal funds and prevent redundant overbuilding of broadband infrastructure with Federal funding. The Commission is required to initiate a Notice of Inquiry, not later than 270 days after the enactment of the Act, concerning the functionality, transparency, quality, and completeness of the data populated to the BFM. In addition, the Act requires the Comptroller of the U.S., no later than 180 days after enactment of the Act, to conduct a study on progress to date of Federal agencies to maintain the BFM and to submit a report to the appropriate Congressional Committees on the findings and conclusions of the Comptroller General.
Also last month, a Bipartisan bill was introduced in the Senate to address the federal environmental permitting process. The legislation, entitled the ePermit Act (Act), is intended to modernize and streamline federal environmental reviews and permitting by leveraging interactive, digital, and cloud-based technologies. The Bill creates a cloud-based permit authorization portal and preserves existing environmental protection requirements. A companion Bill, HR 4503, was also introduced in the House.
Bipartisan legislation was also introduced in the House last month addressing greater transparency and accountability in the FCC’s license review process. This legislation, entitled the Keep it Moving Act (Act) would establish strict timelines for the FCC review process, removing artificial delays and bringing greater transparency and oversight to the processing of applications. Further, the Act requires a full Commission vote to deny any application, ensuring consequential decisions are made by confirmed Commissioners accountable to Congress and the American people and not by unelected staff.
On March 3, 2026, the House passed HR 5419, the Enhancing Administrative Reviews for Broadband Deployment Act (Act). The aim of the Act is to make meaningful progress towards connecting rural and Tribal communities to high-speed internet access by identifying and addressing regulatory barriers to timely deployment. The Act directs the U.S. Departments of the Interior and Agriculture to conduct a comprehensive review of administrative barriers that delay the review of communications use authorizations. Within one year of enactment of this Act, the departments must report their findings to Congress and submit a plan to provide adequate staffing to ensure timely permit reviews. The Bill also addresses a critical bottleneck to broadband deployment: the permitting process for placing communications infrastructure on the millions of acres of federal land, particularly in rural areas where expanding coverage is most needed. The Bill now moves to the Senate for further consideration.
Finally, on March 10,2026, members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee sent a letter to NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth regarding the BEAD Program. The letter expresses concerns over the lack of response to a previous letter, sent on 11/25/25, expressing concerns regarding the implementation of the BEAD Program and requesting responses to a series of important oversight questions. This most recent letter sights concerns over the lack of guidance from NTIA to States and Territories on their allowed use of BEAD non-deployment funds (see ICORE Blog dated 3/5/26). Further, the recent letter expresses concerns that the non-deployment fund guidance, once received, will be inconsistent with the Congressional intent of the bipartisan infrastructure law. The March 10, 2026 requests that NTIA immediately provide a briefing to the Committee on how the Trump Administration intends to treat any remaining non-deployment funds before issuing public guidance.
It is evident from the above discussion that accelerating broadband deployment is considered to be an issue of some importance in the U.S. Congress. It’s also encouraging to see bipartisan agreement on the legislation highlighted above. We’ll continue to monitor events in Congress that are important to the telecommunication industry and provide updates on the specific items discussed above as more information becomes available.
