Disconnected: Broadband Dreams Fade as Federal Rollbacks Hit Rural Washington
The Promise That Was
The Spokane-Coeur d'Alene Tech Hub was born of local ambition and national vision. The initiative aimed to accelerate regional expertise in sustainable aerospace materials. Led by Gonzaga University and supported by stakeholders like Spokane International Airport and the Kalispel and Coeur d'Alene tribes, the hub planned to expand workforce training, invest in R&D, and generate high-wage job growth across multiple counties.
It was, according to project backers, a once-in-a-generation opportunity to redefine the region’s economic identity.
A Quite Cancellation
In February 2025, stakeholders received word that the funding had been withdrawn. No formal press release. No White House announcement. Just a series of cascading emails and state-level briefings revealing that the Spokane Tech Hub had been removed from the active funding pipeline.
The silence around the decision left partners scrambling and applicants disoriented. Local institutions had already diverted internal resources to meet federal timelines. Some employers had paused other capital investments in anticipation of the grant.
Rep. Baumgartner’s statement that Spokane "can reapply" has been met with skepticism by regional economic planners who know the national funding architecture is rapidly shifting.
Project 2025 and the Elimination of the EDA
The defunding shouldn’t have come as a complete surprise. It was explicitly contained in the priorities laid out in Project 2025, a policy blueprint drafted by conservative think tanks in anticipation of a second Trump presidency. Among its many proposals: the full elimination of the EDA.
Page 552 of the over 900-page document reads:
“The Economic Development Administration is duplicative and outdated. Its programs can be eliminated, with economic development efforts devolved to the states.”
This recommendation directly undermines the infrastructure that funded regional innovation hubs like Spokane's. Project 2025 is now governing doctrine. Its chief architect, Russell Vought, is the recently Senate-confirmed and now powerful White House Budget Director. Gutting EDA funding was one of his first official acts. Future EDA investments, including any reapplication effort for Spokane’s Tech Hub, are unlikely.
Baumgartner Knows This
As a sitting member of Congress and vocal supporter of the Trump-aligned Project 2025 framework, Rep. Baumgartner is not unaware of the implications. His suggestion that Spokane should simply reapply ignores the plain reality: the EDA itself is on life support. This makes his public reassurance not only hollow but misleading.
To imply that the Tech Hub's funding pause is a speed bump rather than a dead end is to fundamentally mislead the very partners who built this regional collaboration in good faith.
What We Lost
Gonzaga University had begun preparing expanded curriculum. Local manufacturers were exploring tech upgrades that aligned with the grant’s R&D focus. Dozens of students, tribal members, and workers in training pipelines expected direct benefit. Spokane County anticipated over 3,000 indirect jobs linked to the regional supply chain.
All of this is now stalled, or more likely, scrapped.
Eastern Washington Deserves Better
This is not about one funding stream. It is about the federal government’s role in supporting rural and regional resilience. Eastern Washington cannot be told to modernize and diversify its economy while the very tools for doing so are pulled away by political maneuvering.
Project 2025 is now policy. And if leaders like Rep. Baumgartner continue to toe the party line in Washington, D.C., while ignoring the devastating consequences here in Eastern Washington, we will not just lose more critical federal funding—we will lose momentum, talent, and trust for our future.
The Spokane Tech Hub may be disconnected, but the vision it carried is still alive. It belongs to the educators, tribal leaders, students, and engineers who saw a future worth fighting for. Their plans deserve more than silence. They deserve leadership.