Six senators from both parties are pressing the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to release long-delayed guidance on how states can spend billions of dollars in Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) funds on activities beyond building broadband networks.

Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, led a letter dated Sept. 30, 2026, addressed to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and NTIA Assistant Secretary Arielle Roth. The letter urges the agency to provide guidance on BEAD's non-deployment funding — money that states could direct toward uses other than physical broadband construction.

Four additional senators signed the letter: Angus King, I-Maine, Bill Cassidy, R-La., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Mark Warner, D-Va. The bipartisan makeup of the group spans the political spectrum, from Warner and Cortez Masto on the Democratic side to Cassidy among Republicans, with King caucusing with Democrats as an independent.

The senators' complaint centers on timing. NTIA has still not told states how they may use their BEAD allocations for non-deployment purposes, leaving billions of federal dollars in limbo while communities wait to learn what the rules will allow. The letter asks Lutnick and Roth to release the guidance immediately so communities can take advantage of broadband expansion opportunities under the program.

BEAD, administered by NTIA under the Commerce Department, provides federal funding to states for broadband deployment. The program's rules also contemplate non-deployment uses of funds, but states cannot act on that flexibility without formal guidance from the agency.

The letter lands at the desks of two officials relatively new to their roles. Lutnick leads the Commerce Department, while Roth serves as NTIA's assistant secretary, the Senate-confirmed position with direct oversight of the agency's broadband programs.

For states, the stakes are practical. New Hampshire and Maine — home states of the letter's two lead signatories — plus Louisiana, Nevada and Virginia all hold BEAD allocations they must eventually put to work. Until NTIA clarifies what counts as an eligible non-deployment activity, state broadband offices cannot finalize plans for that portion of their funding, and communities that might benefit from it stay in a holding pattern.

The senators' decision to write jointly, rather than through committee channels, signals urgency on both sides of the aisle. Shaheen and Collins, the lead signatories, represent neighboring New England states that have worked closely on regional connectivity issues, and their letter frames the missing guidance as an obstacle to communities seeking to capitalize on broadband expansion.

NTIA has not publicly committed to a date for issuing the non-deployment guidance, and the letter itself does not set a deadline, according to the senators' announcement. The agency now faces a choice between responding to congressional pressure or continuing to leave states waiting on rules that determine how billions in federal broadband money ultimately gets spent.

The coming weeks will show whether Lutnick and Roth answer the bipartisan call and put a timeline on guidance that states have been anticipating since the program's funds began flowing.