Moran, Jerry: accepting our invitation to join us today to discuss the Department of Commerce's broadband deployment efforts including the implementation of the broadband equity access Equity Access and Deployment, or BEAD, program. Four years ago, Congress authorized the BEAD program providing the National Telecommunications and Information Administration within the Department of Commerce with $42.5 billion to provide grants aimed at bridging the digital divide. The BEAD program is the largest, the largest ever single federal investment in broadband deployment, and was intended to connect Americans lacking reliable broadband connectivity. If we fail after we put so many dollars into broadband availability, and we still have places in the country that don't have broadband, we have really failed. There should be sufficient resources for this goal to be accomplished. But four years later, not a single BEAD-funded project has been completed, much less initiated, and not a single unserved or underserved American has connected to broadband service through the BEAD program. Under the Biden administration, implementation was encumbered by complex and often unworkable regulatory and financial burdens and hurdles for states and for providers. Stringent labor and workforce provisions, climate and environmental objectives, effective rate regulation imposed by low-cost plan requirements, and convoluted permitting processes dissuaded many providers, especially those in rural areas, from participating. In June of 2025, NTIA issued a BEAD restructuring policy notice aimed at rolling back these burdensome requirements and expediting implementation of the BEAD program. That policy notice, NTIA, identified obstacles to deployment under existing BEAD guidance and outlined several changes with the goal of maximizing the benefit of the bargain that Americans should expect from the investment in broadband deployment under the BEAD program. Secretary Lutnick, I commend your department's and NTIA's efforts to relieve undue burdens on state broadband offices and providers. However, I am concerned that certain changes to the BEAD program implemented under the revised guidance may jeopardize the efficiency and the effectiveness of the program. Following the June restructuring, state broadband offices worked diligently with NTIA and providers to modify proposals and realign their BEAD plans according to the guidance issued by NTIA. As part of that process, state broadband offices were urged by NTIA to revisit many projects and locations to find additional cost savings. The resulting final BEAD plan submitted by many states saw drastic reduction in BEAD As an example, in my home state of Kansas, BEAD secured roughly $452 million in its BEAD After the benefits of the bargain reduction, Kansas' final BEAD plan requests only $166.6 million of the original allocation, leaving over $200 million in unspent funds and little clarity from the Department of Commerce and NTIA on how those funds may be used. This uncertainty has caused concern among state broadband offices who are unable to plan broadband initiatives that rely on the balance of their BEAD allocations. Additionally, I'm concerned that the worthwhile goal of maximizing the impact of taxpayer dollars has prioritized achieving the lowest cost rather than the best value for BEAD projects. This approach risks repeating the errors of previous federal broadband deployment programs that fail to account for the unique connectivity needs in each of our states. I'd also like to discuss your outlook for the BEAD program and the future of federal broadband deployment efforts, including how unspent funds should be treated. We will also discuss broadband deployment provisions included in recently enacted appropriations legislation produced by this subcommittee and other subcommittees of the Appropriations Committee. Secretary Lutnick, again, thank you for being here, and I now recognize the Ranking Member, Senator Van Hollen, for his opening statement.