Remarks of Commissioner Clyburn, "The FCC's War on the Poor", at Voices for Internet Freedom Coalition

The last time we spoke, you kindly permitted me to go off-script, to talk about how the Federal Communications Commission is proposing to destroy the Lifeline program. Now that proposed rollback is centerstage, along with my key priority, inmate calling service reform. But, I am heartened that the public outcry about the majority’s assault on Lifeline is coming from nearly every corner. And while it may be clear to those assembled here, that the FCC needs to pump the brakes on gutting Lifeline, what it does need to hit the gas on is inmate calling services reform. 

During the previous Administration, the FCC acted—amid fierce resistance—to rein in egregious rates and ancillary charges for inmate calling services. But amid a half-hearted defense in the courts in 2017 and then a voluntary remand, we now have no comprehensive federal rules on the books protecting inmates and their families from a regime that puts families in the poorhouse and ossifies the cradle-to-prison pipeline. Even now, some areas of the country have rates as high as $24 for a 15-minute call and in 2017, during a Congressional hearing, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai promised Sen Cory Booker (D-NJ) that he would act. We are all still waiting.