Republicans Attack FCC Plan to Pay for Internet Access for the Poor

Just months after enacting fiercely controversial network neutrality rules, the Federal Communications Commission is wading into a new political battle by unveiling a plan to subsidize Internet access for millions of poor Americans. House and Senate Republicans blasted the plan, warning that it would waste more federal money. The plan from FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler would expand the agency's Lifeline program, derisively referred to as the "Obamaphone" program by Republicans (despite the fact that it was created during the Reagan administration). Republicans argue that the $1.7 billion program, which currently only subsidizes phone service, has already been plagued by fraud and has been growing out of control.

"Why the FCC wants to expand this program before addressing the regular reports of ongoing fraud is beyond me," said Sen David Vitter (R-LA), a longtime critic of the program. "The FCC has failed to manage Lifeline efficiently in its current form, and I cannot support any expansion of a program that has so few safeguards in place to protect the legitimacy of the program and the American taxpayers who pay into it." FCC officials hoped that their plan might be able to win Republican support. While their plan would allow poor consumers to use Lifeline money towards their Internet bills, it wouldn't necessarily increase the overall size of the program, which is funded through fees on all phone bills.