At today's Senate Commerce Committee hearing, Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) questioned Arielle Roth, nominee for Assistant Commerce Secretary, and debated Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) about Elon Musk and the Biden Administration.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Thank you, Senator Markey.
00:03Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
00:04It's good to see you again, Mr. Roth.
00:06Along with the $42.5 billion that Congress provided for the broadband program known as
00:11Bede, we also provided nearly $3 billion to help ensure all Americans have the skills
00:18and the knowledge to participate in the online world.
00:22Those funds are critical to ensure that all Americans can benefit from the digital revolution.
00:28In Massachusetts, for example, residents expressed difficulties finding jobs online and obtaining
00:32other important services.
00:34This funding will help close those gaps.
00:37Ms. Roth, if confirmed, will you commit to fulfilling NTIA's legal obligation to provide
00:42the money authorized and appropriated by Congress for this program?
00:46Senator, I will always abide by the law.
00:49And also, thank you so much for meeting with me in your office.
00:52It was such an honor to meet with someone who has had such an influence on my career
00:57with so many pieces of legislation that you authored in the telecom sector.
01:06I'm glad to have got to help to provide employment for you and so many others at the Federal
01:10Communications Commission over the years.
01:14And thank you for that.
01:15I'm glad to hear that.
01:17Many of my colleagues have raised the Trump administration's ongoing review of the Bede
01:21program and the impact of any potential changes of the program.
01:25Massachusetts has been allocated $147 million in Bede funding and began accepting applications
01:32from providers in January.
01:35Just yesterday, Arkansas announced results from their second round of their application
01:40process.
01:41Other states are in a similar position.
01:43Given the Commerce Department's review, should states just stop accepting applications and
01:48indefinitely pause their program and just save the money?
01:56Thank you, Senator.
01:57As I haven't been confirmed yet, I haven't had a chance to confer with NTIA's career
02:03staff and I haven't been involved in the review process.
02:07I would hope that any review conducted by NTIA is expeditious with the goal of expediting
02:15build-outs.
02:16Yeah, well, will you commit to a quick timeline for when the review will be complete?
02:25As I haven't been confirmed, I'm not in a position to commit to a specific timeline,
02:29but I will commit that my goal would be a very expeditious timeline.
02:34That's great.
02:35Because I am very worried that changes to the program will cause serious delays in deploying
02:41broadband right as states are ready to get shovels in the ground.
02:46So now I'd like to talk about a specific change that the Trump administration appears
02:50to be pushing for bead, turning the program into a subsidy for Elon Musk's Starlink.
02:58Under the guise of making the program, quote, technology neutral, the Trump administration
03:03may eliminate the program's preference for fiber and make satellite providers like Starlink
03:10eligible for bead funding in all circumstances.
03:15Ms. Roth, do you support that change?
03:18Senator, as I've said before, I would administer the law consistent with the statute and to
03:29the benefit of the American people, not for any specific individual or company.
03:34I do believe that Congress wrote the law in a technology neutral manner, and that means
03:38an all of the above solution that recognizes different realities across different parts
03:44of the country.
03:45Let's be clear.
03:46Let's be clear.
03:47The bead program never excluded satellite broadband, but it did limit it.
03:52It did limit it to areas where fiber was excessively expensive.
03:57That is in the law.
03:59And that's because while satellite broadband may be cheaper to deploy in some locations
04:05in the short term, it costs far more to service and maintain in the long run.
04:10So Ms. Roth, do you agree that fiber is a cheaper technology in the long run?
04:16Senator, I would want to confer with NTIA's career staff before assessing a specific product
04:29or technology.
04:32And I look forward to working with you to ensure that Massachusetts gets what it needs.
04:39It's not just Massachusetts.
04:40It's the whole country.
04:41Absolutely.
04:42Because this satellite versus fiber question is very central.
04:46And according to a Bloomberg article yesterday, for example, one state official found that
04:51fiber would save households $15,600 over a 30-year period.
04:58And I ask that article be included in the record, Mr. Chairman.
05:02Without objection.
05:03So, Ms. Roth, I strongly urge you to oppose this giveaway to Elon Musk and ensure that
05:09the BEED program delivers for all Americans and that we not adopt a more costly approach
05:16because that surely will drain the funding that could have been used more efficiently.
05:20So I thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I yield back.
05:25I thank the Senator from Massachusetts, and I would note that in four years, the Biden
05:29administration managed to connect zero households with the $42 billion that Congress gave them.
05:36And one of the reasons was the Biden administration, I think, engaged in petulant and partisan
05:42politics by blacklisting Elon Musk and Starlink, which is technology that could have connected
05:48particularly households in distant rural places.
05:52And I think it was purely partisan.
05:55And I would note we saw this underscore just last week when two American astronauts finally
06:00came back from the International Space Station when SpaceX flew them back and Elon offered
06:07months ago to fly them back.
06:10And because the Biden administration suffered from Elon derangement syndrome, they stranded
06:15our astronauts in space for many months rather than accept the only ride back that could
06:21bring them from the station.
06:23If the Senator would yield?
06:24Sure.
06:25I thank you.
06:26To the extent to which the Biden administration did authorize last July to contract with SpaceX
06:34in order to complete that mission, I think we should note that it began in the Biden
06:39administration.
06:41And to the extent to which if we do move forward now with deployment of the BEAD program, all
06:48I'm asking is if that be the case, that we just do it in the most efficient way.
06:53That's something that Elon would want.
06:56On that, we are agreed.
06:57And if it's clear that it's fiber and not styling, did that be the approach which is
07:03taken by the administration?
07:05Because if we do it that way, we'll save more money for the consumers over time.
07:11Looking forward, let's look forward.
07:13Let's look to the future and our opportunities.
07:17You know I'm a pushover when you do your JFK impression.
07:22Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
07:23Senator Hickenlooper.
07:24Thank you, Mr. Chair.
07:25Thank you, Ms. Roth.
07:26I appreciate the time you spent carved out for us in the office.