D.C. Memo: Does Musk-Fueled Food Fight Await Arielle Roth at March 27 Hearing?

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Senate: So how is this going to go? NTIA Administrator-designate Arielle Roth is scheduled to appear before the Senate Commerce Committee under Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) next Thursday afternoon for her confirmation hearing as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information – putting her in charge of the $42.45 billion BEAD program. It could be a bumpy ride. The Senate received Roth’s nomination on Feb. 3 and since then a lot has occurred that could make her appearance a more stressful session than normal. Even though Roth works for Cruz on the Committee – she attended the March 12 business meeting but stayed out of camera range – and knows all the senators, she will likely face tough questioning from Democrats and perhaps take a few pointed ones from Republicans. That’s because on March 5, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said he was “revamping the BEAD program to take a tech-neutral approach,” which some took to mean diverting billions from fiber projects to Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite Internet service. For Senate Democrats, Musk has become radioactive over his DOGE work for President Trump. Roth herself is on record saying Congress wrote the BEAD law in a tech-neutral manner, making unlawful the Biden administration’s “extreme tech bias in favor of fiber.” (Continued after paywall.)