NTIA, the federal office administering the largest single investment to expand Internet access across the nation, appears to once again be changing the BEAD program in ways that would only force states to further reduce investment in rural areas. And yet, NTIA called this process of reducing investment in rural America the “Benefit of the Bargain” round. Then they were told they had to trim their under-budget plans, meeting the new rules imposed specifically to reduce investment in rural America. They did it – on an expedited basis – only to find that once again they are being told to find more families and businesses to leave with no options beyond satellite Internet access. BEAD was designed to correct the failures of multiple billion-dollar federal Internet access subsidy programs, but the Trump Administration is forcing it back into the old pattern of throwing money at politically-connected monopolies rather than serving the long term interests of rural communities.