Senator Joni Ernst has told the US Department for Government Efficiency (DOGE) to shut down the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program.

In a letter to Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, both of whom have been appointed by President-Elect Donald Trump as co-chairmen of the DOGE, Ernst slammed the program.

DOGE was formed by Trump as part of his campaign plans to significantly slash federal spending.

Despite being called a department, DOGE is not actually a federal executive department as it would require an act of Congress to create. It will instead serve as an advisory body operating outside of government.

BEAD, which was set up by the Biden Administration, was created by Congress in November 2021 and has been implemented by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The federal grant program is funding programs to build Internet infrastructure in unserved locations across the US and its territories.

However, BEAD has come under fire from the Republicans, with Ernst now calling for BEAD to be canned, as first reported by Broadband Breakfast.

"President Biden’s so-called infrastructure program provided $7.5 billion to build a nationwide network of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations and $42 billion to expand broadband. Three years later, just 17 EV stations are completed and not a single person—not one—has been connected to the Internet yet. It’s time to pull the plug," said Ernst in the letter.

Her comments come less than a fortnight after Senator Ted Cruz penned a letter to the NTIA, urging them to pause the program.

Cruz, who has just recently been re-elected to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), warned there will be significant changes to BEAD's implementation once Donald Trump begins his second term.

In his letter to the NTIA, Cruz criticized the program, asking the NTIA to "pause its unlawful BEAD activities."

“Under your leadership, NTIA has repeatedly ignored the text of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in administering the $42.45 billion in Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program," wrote Cruz.

"I, therefore, urge NTIA to pause unlawful, extraneous BEAD activities and avoid locking states into any final actions until you provide a detailed, transparent response to my original inquiry and take immediate, measurable steps to address these issues," he continued.

Funding for the program is still in the process of being allocated on a state-by-state basis, and at present, nobody in the US has been connected via the BEAD program.

The program was set up to expand high-speed Internet access to all 50 states, Washington DC, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Providing a response to previous comments made by Cruz in August, the NTIA said its Broadband Infrastructure Program has provided Internet service to more than 40,000 previously underserved households, while the same program has laid more than 2,700 miles of new or upgraded fiber.

Musk has previously described BEAD as "an outrageous waste of taxpayer money and is utterly failing to serve people in need."

Plans to cull BEAD would likely help Musk's Starlink grow its coverage across the US to support rural underserved parts of the country.

His previous attempts to expand Starlink's coverage have been less successful with the Biden Administration, as the service has been deemed too slow.