Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Matt Anderson Photography) Republican lawmakers are fighting a Biden administration attempt to bring cheap broadband service to low-income people, claiming it is an illegal form of rate regulation. GOP leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee announced an investigation into the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which is administering the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program that was approved by Congress in November 2021. "States have reported that the NTIA is directing them to set rates and conditioning approval of initial proposals on doing so.