Missouri to DC: Give Missouri the Opportunity to Succeed and Let Us Finish our BEAD Plan

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick has indicated he will make fundamental changes to the $42 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. Changes such as giving a stronger preference for satellite internet, could force states to restart the broadband grant programs.

On March 27, more than 60 Show Me Broadband members including stakeholders, state legislators, and others from Missouri, sent Secretary Lutnick a letter requesting that any BEAD changes be optional, not mandatory. Mandating changes could upend the rules of the state broadband program and Missouri is nearing the end of its process. Missouri developed a plan that fit Missouri and we want the opportunity to finish it and provide the best broadband to all Missourians.