Chairman Pai's Response to Senators Regarding the "Rate Floor" Rule in the Universal Service High Cost Program

On April 10, 2019, Sens John Thune (R-SD) and Jerry Moran (R-KS) wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai in support of eliminating the Universal Service Fund High-Cost program's rate floor rule and ending the federal mandate that increases telephone rates for rural Americans. The senators called the rule "inherently flawed and unnecessary." On May 6, Chairman Pai wrote back to say that the FCC had eliminated the rule. "consider this a big win for rural Americans—we repealed a defacto federal government mandate that increased rates paid by rural Americans."