Group of 140 Orgs Urge Lutnick to Restore Digital Equity Funding
Lutnick told lawmakers earlier this month that 'the courts will decide.' Grant winners have not yet sued.
WASHINGTON, June 18, 2025 – A group of 140 organizations joined those urging the Commerce Department to reinstate billions in Digital Equity Act funding Wednesday.
Groups including the Cities of San Jose and Portland (Oregon); the Vermont broadband office; the counties of Chester, Pennsylvania; Nelson, Virginia; and Napa, California; joined together with the American Library Association, the City University of New York, Goodwill Industries, Lead for America, and many other organizations in the effort spearheaded by the National Digital Inclusion Alliance
“Reinstating these funds is a common-sense, fiscally smart, pro-growth decision that ensures our workforce and businesses remain Competitive,” the groups wrote in a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. “The funds are vital to driving positive change and creating a future where everyone has access to the opportunities the digital world offers.”
FROM SPEEDING BEAD SUMMIT
Panel 1: How Are States Thinking About Reasonable Costs Now?
Panel 2: Finding the State Versus Federal Balance in BEAD
Panel 3: Reacting to the New BEAD NOFO Guidance
Panel 4: Building, Maintaining and Adopting Digital Workforce Skills
The group included organizations that work to increase broadband adoption through programs that teach people how to use online services or work to make devices and internet bills more affordable, among other things. Many won funding from programs stood up by the law.
The Digital Equity Act, part of the Infrastructure Act, set aside $2.75 billion to support that kind of work. It was an effort to address barriers to adoptions that would have persisted after infrastructure was deployed by the $42.45 billion broadband expansion effort funded alongside it.
The Commerce Department cancelled grants issued under the law on May 9, telling state governments and nonprofits that Lutnick and President Donald Trump had concluded their awards were made with “impermissible and unconstitutional racial preferences.” The cancellations came after Trump posted on social media that the law’s programs were “racist and illegal.”
The law specified certain “covered populations” at whom funded programs could be targeted, including racial and ethnic minorities, which is what the Trump administration opposed.
Several Democratic lawmakers have been urging the Trump administration to reinstate the funds, arguing it was illegal to withhold funding allocated under the law and defending the funded programs.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has also done so.
Affordability, devices and skills
“You can build all the pipes and wires you want, or put up as many satellites as you want,” said Amy Huffman, NDIA's policy director. “but that doesn’t mean people will subscribe to the networks if they can’t afford it, if they don’t have the devices to use it, or they don’t have the skills.”
The non-profit NDIA led the signatories, which also included the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, the Community Broadband Action Network, the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council, and other local and regional nonprofits. NDIA had been recommended for a $25.7 million grant under the law to support work in 11 states.
The law provided separate funding programs for state governments and for nonprofits
Every state received funding for and submitted a digital equity plan to the Biden administration to be eligible for larger grants. More than $500 million was awarded to states to carry out those plans.
The Biden Commerce Department recommended $619 million in grants to nonprofits and other groups, but only a small number, including NDIA, had entered into contracts by the time awards were revoked.
No lawsuit – yet
The Trump administration is apparently expecting lawsuits over the cancellations. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., pointed out at a hearing earlier this month that a court had not actually found the law unconstitutional, and Lutnick responded that “It will go through the courts and the courts will decide.”
Gigi Sohn, executive director of the American Association for Public Broadband, and the Vermont broadband office’s attorney have said state attorneys general are considering legal action. Huffman said NDIA is “exploring all its options.”
At the hearing, Murray urged Lutnick to reinstate the funds and “save everyone the legal fees, because the law is very clear,” to which he said only “I hear you.”
