D.C. Memo: West Virginia on Same BEAD Page with White House, Lutnick
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BEAD: No, West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey (R) is not feuding with the Trump White House over details in the $42.45 billion BEAD program. But a split of some kind was the clear impression left by a story Tuesday in the Mountain State Spotlight with the headline: “Morrisey Blames Trump Administration for Excluding 40,000 Homes from Broadband Plan.” Morrisey spokesman Drew Galang, in an email to Policyband, said the story was incorrect. “The headline claiming the Governor ‘blames’ the Trump administration for ‘excluding’ locations from the [BEAD] Final Proposal is false, and his response from a recent press conference has been taken completely out of context,” Galang said. “West Virginia worked collaboratively with the Trump administration to ensure taxpayer dollars are being spent wisely and that the selected locations would successfully cover ALL unserved and underserved locations in West Virginia.” Unlike someone like Gov. Tony Evers, a Wisconsin Democrat, Morrisey has been nothing but supportive of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick since release of his BEAD Restructuring Policy Notice on June 6. The Mountain State’s plan submitted to NTIA last week called for spending $624.6 million to connect 73,701 locations, reaching nearly 95% with fiber. The number of locations was down about 40,000, with some saying 100,000 West Virginians would not benefit under BEAD. “The most common reason for the revision is that some of the structures were determined to have been uninhabited. Structures may have been previously classified as eligible and then later determined to be a barn, accessory building or other type of structure that was not a home or place of business,” Galang said. (More after paywall.)
