EXCLUSIVE: Ernst, Cruz Introduce Bill To Recover Billions From Biden Boondoggle
Daily Caller ^ | November 21, 2025 | Harold Hutchison
Posted on 11/21/2025 12:10:30 PM PST by Red Badger
Republican Sens. Joni Ernst of Iowa and Ted Cruz of Texas introduced legislation on Friday to recover savings from former President Joe Biden’s rural broadband initiative.
The $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program has not started a single project since the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) was signed in 2021 by Biden, drawing Ernst’s attention in a November 2024 letter to former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Tesla CEO Elon Musk outlining up to $2 trillion in savings. Ernst, who chairs the Senate DOGE Caucus, introduced the Recovering Excess Communications Appropriations while Protecting Telecommunications Upgrades, Reinvestment, and Expansion (RECAPTURE) Act after the Trump administration saved roughly $21 billion after making adjustments to the BEAD program.
“Despite the astronomical price tag, Biden’s broadband boondoggle failed to connect a single person to the internet before Trump took over and got the job done for less,” Ernst told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Now that the program is operating more efficiently and at a lower cost, I am proud to introduce my RECAPTURE Act to save the American people billions. Bringing fast and reliable internet to every corner of the country is more important than ever in the digital age, and I am confident that we can do so while racking up big savings.”
The legislation would mandate that the $21 billion in savings be returned to the United States Treasury and be used for deficit reduction.
The Biden administration included many regulatory hurdles in its plan for the BEAD program, including requirements for partnering internet service providers to participate in environmental initiatives and requiring the use of union workers among other requirements detailed in a 98-page document outlining a 14-step process for awarding the grants.
Ernst has prioritized targeting government waste during her two terms in the Senate. She requested Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy consider yanking $14 billion from transportation projects she described as “boondoggles” in a letter sent Aug. 5, citing a July 30 report describing those that were either five or more years behind schedule or $1 billion over budget.
The chairman of the Senate DOGE Caucus also has addressed “taxpayer-funded union time” (TFUT), which cost taxpayers at least $135 million in fiscal year 2019, according to Ernst. The senator detailed several instances where the system has been abused, including when an employee at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) used TFUT to start a real estate business.
Ernst also has addressed issues with telework by federal employees and unused office space and buildings owned or leased by the federal government.
TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Government
KEYWORDS: broadband; fjb; fraud
1 posted on 11/21/2025 12:10:30 PM PST by Red Badger
To: Red Badger
Does this or does this not include the seven or so EV stations that lyin’ Biden or his auto penpals authorized billions for?
2 posted on 11/21/2025 12:15:28 PM PST by A_Former_Democrat (The point of a gun is the only law that leftists understand )
To: A_Former_Democrat
No, that was a separate scam.................
3 posted on 11/21/2025 12:16:11 PM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
To: Red Badger
Every Single Thing The Democraps Touch Turns To $hit While Lining A Lot Of Pockets.
4 posted on 11/21/2025 12:16:33 PM PST by laplata (They want each crisis to take the greatest toll possible.)
To: laplata
A select FEW pockets.................
5 posted on 11/21/2025 12:17:06 PM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
To: Red Badger
6 posted on 11/21/2025 12:18:43 PM PST by laplata (They want each crisis to take the greatest toll possible.)
To: Red Badger
“The $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program has not started a single project since the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) was signed in 2021”
What’s the big rush? Jeez...
To: Red Badger
I’ve heard this “broadband for underserved rural areas” bullcrap for 25 years! All it is is a way to spread the wealth around and Corning must be making bank on all the miles of dark fiber in the ground that serve no one.
The Economic Meddling Department of the USDA should have been DOGEd long ago:
https://www.usda.gov/sustainability/infrastructure/broadband
They’re idiots. And this has nothing to do with agriculture or heoping rural communities who have long ago been linked with wireless internet, Hughes Net, and now Starlink.
Elon Musk yes, USDA make-work meddlers - NO.
8 posted on 11/21/2025 12:24:50 PM PST by bigbob (We are all Charlie Kirk now,)
To: ProtectOurFreedom
"...What’s the big rush? Jeez..."
AHHHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
9 posted on 11/21/2025 12:26:44 PM PST by rlmorel (Factio Communistica Sinensis Delenda Est.)
To: ProtectOurFreedom
All of the $42 billion was probably spent within the first week after passage. Its another NGO grift vehicle similar to the stuff Elon’s DOGE found earlier this year
10 posted on 11/21/2025 12:27:49 PM PST by jpp113
To: Red Badger
The level of dem theft and corruption is stratospheric.
11 posted on 11/21/2025 12:30:01 PM PST by SpaceBar
To: SpaceBar
And not one single one has been arrested….not a one.
12 posted on 11/21/2025 1:04:58 PM PST by lgjhn23 ("On the 8th day, Satan created the progressive liberal to destroy all the good that God created...")
To: Red Badger
FERTILE GROUND TO PLOW, IMO.
13 posted on 11/21/2025 1:15:29 PM PST by ridesthemiles (not giving up on TRUMP---EVER)
To: lgjhn23
Yeah, still waiting for the perp-walks too.
14 posted on 11/21/2025 1:20:17 PM PST by SpaceBar
To: jpp113
Agree, except I wouldn’t say “spent.” More like “stashed away” or “spirited away” or “absconded.”
To: Red Badger
Rural culture is dead. Cable TV wounded it; the internet killed it.
16 posted on 11/21/2025 2:24:07 PM PST by Ge0ffrey
To: Red Badger
How many people living in remote areas could just get Starlink for 20 billion dollars?
17 posted on 11/21/2025 3:44:55 PM PST by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> --- )
To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; BraveMan; cardinal4; ...
18 posted on 11/21/2025 6:09:03 PM PST by SunkenCiv (NeverTrumpin' -- it's not just for DNC shills anymore -- oh, wait, yeah it is.)
To: Red Badger
19 posted on 11/21/2025 6:26:04 PM PST by redinIllinois (Pro-life, accountant, gun-totin' Grandma - multi issue voter I'm)
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