5th Circuit Probes 'Upshot' Of Overturning FCC Subsidy Fees

A panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit explored what would happen if the Federal Communications Commission's fee collection to support telecommunications subsidies were overturned, as they dissected the legality of giving the Federal Communications Commission and the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) power to levy the fees. At oral arguments in New Orleans, the three-judge panel put the FCC's Universal Service Fund under a microscope, examining if it was constitutional for Congress to delegate the authority to set up a system of quarterly fees on the private sector that are managed by USAC. Opponents claim that it amounts to the legislative branch handing off what is effectively taxing power to the FCC.