TPA Applauds Legislative Efforts to Reform FCC Lifeline Program

Some phones that might be included in a Lifeline plan

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is one of the more active regulatory agencies under the Obama Administration and many times their actions have come at a price to taxpayers and consumers. Net neutrality and municipal broadband expansion are two very public battles that the agency has been at the center of, and the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) has been fighting them every step of the way. TPA has worked hard to ensure that the taxpayers’ voice is heard as FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler continues to expand the agency’s power through increased regulations.

One program that has received some attention and notoriety is Lifeline. The program is part of the Universal Service Fund (USF), which is a tax on phone bills, provides a discount on phone service for qualifying low-income consumers. In 2005, the program expanded to pre-paid cellular phone services and now the FCC wants to expand the reach of the program to broadband services. The problem though is that the program is a mess, filled with rampant fraud and abuse.

A March 2015 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report noted some of the major problems and challenging the efficiency and effectiveness of the program:

The FCC should conduct a program evaluation to determine the extent to which the Lifeline program is efficiently and effectively reaching its performance goals. FCC agreed that it should evaluate the extent to which the program is efficiently and effectively reaching its performance goals and said that FCC staff will address GAO’s recommendation.

Asking for more money before these questions are answered is premature, and that is why Congress is now taking action.

This month, the House Energy and Commerce Committee is likely to consider H.R. 4884, Controlling the Unchecked and Reckless Ballooning of (CURB) Lifeline Act of 2016, sponsored by Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.). The bill would implement much-needed reforms to the Lifeline program. These reforms include a phase-out of the so-called “Obama Phone” program that has seen rampant waste, fraud, and abuse.  The legislation also caps the Lifeline budget at $1.5 billion as opposed to the $2.25 billion requested by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), thus saving taxpayers $725 million.

The need for these reforms could not be more evident, as the Lifeline program has been rampant with fraud for many years. The message the FCC should be sent by Congress is that this type of continuing fraud and abuse that wastes taxpayer money is unacceptable and instead of allowing the program’s budget to balloon, it must be capped. The FCC failed to make a compromise, so now Congress has stepped in to do something.

The Lifeline program isn’t going to end tomorrow, but when given the opportunity to cap the budget and fix real and persistent problems that are costing working Americans their hard earned money, that’s just common sense. Expansion should be off the table.  The priority must be on capping any spending for the program and going after the fraud and abuse.

H.R. 4884 puts in place the needed caps to a program that has seen its budget grow while abuses within the program have also increased. Congress can and should act in the best interest of all Americans by moving forward with H.R. 4884 when they return from Easter recess.