Lifeline in crosshairs as Senate weighs USF reforms

Is the Lifeline program effective? Should E-Rate be expanded to cover school-related connectivity outside of campuses? Would it make sense to fold the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) into the Universal Service Fund (USF)? These were some of the questions asked and answered at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on the state of universal service. Sen John Thune (R-SD) claimed the Lifeline program is “riddled with waste, fraud and abuse” and chided the Federal Communications Commission for failing to evaluate whether the program is functioning as intended. He said a fundamental review of Lifeline’s efficacy is “long overdue.” Daniel Lyons, a non-resident Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and panelist at the hearing, pointed out the Government Accountability Office has repeatedly called on the FCC to conduct such an evaluation. He claimed that Pew Research data has shown that among families earning $35,000 or less, 57% have home broadband and 76% have mobile phones, suggesting that at least a portion of Lifeline money – or even ACP money – is going to individuals who are not at risk of losing their service absent the subsidies. It appears Lyons was referring to a 2021 survey from Pew Research, which actually found that those statistics applied to consumers earning less than $30,000 per year. It was not clear whether that survey also measured how many respondents in that income bracket were receiving some sort of federal subsidy to facilitate their connections. Further, that survey found that 45% of all non-broadband users cited cost as the reason for not being connected.