Rep Pallone Pounds GOP Over Lifeline Bill

In debate before a vote on the End Taxpayer Funded Cell Phones Act of 2016 (HR 5525), House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-NJ) took to the House floor to slam Republican backers of the bill, which would disallow low income Lifeline telecommunication subsidies for mobile broadband phones or service.

"[House Speaker Paul] Ryan and the Republican majority is bringing a bill to the floor that would eliminate the successful Lifeline program that provides millions of low-income Americans access to basic communications services," said Ranking Member Pallone. He said Republican lawmakers are looking to gut a Lifeline program created in the Reagan Administration and expanded to wireless in the Bush Administration. He said the claims of waste, fraud and abuse come despite the Obama Administration's elimination of nearly $750 million of that. The bill would continue to collect the same fees from ratepayers used for the subsidy but not allow any to be used for wireless, which Ranking Member Pallone says does nothing to help taxpayers. "The American people know that if Republicans were really serious about battling poverty and shrinking the size of Lifeline, they would work with us to create more jobs for those that are unemployed or under-employed. The best way to lower the costs of the Lifeline program is to lift people up, not to take away their connection to a better life," he said.