Lifeline/Low-Income Consumers

Sen Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Rep Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY-18) introduced a bicameral bill that would increase access to broadband service for low-income urban and rural Americans.  The Promoting Access to Broadband Act would help states increase awareness of, and enrollment in, the Federal Communications Commission’s Lifeline program, which aims to help low-income households pay for their telephone and broadband service charges by providing a monthly subsidy of $9.25.  Enrollment in the Lifeline program remains extremely low nationwide. The Promoting Access to Broadband Act wo

The misconduct alleged today, if true, amounts to corporate malfeasance. A single company apparently misappropriated funds for nearly 10 percent of the entire Lifeline program. I am outraged. There is no credible way that the merger before us can proceed until this Lifeline investigation is resolved and responsible parties are held accountable.

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) announced the launch of the National Lifeline Eligibility Verifier for all new enrollments in Arizona, Connecticut, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia. Starting on October 23, 2019, eligible telecommunications carriers (ETCs) in these eleven states will be required to use the National Verifier’s eligibility determination process for all consumers applying for Lifeline service and must cease using legacy eligibility processes for prospective Lifeline subscribers.

The Federal Communications Commission has learned that Sprint claimed monthly subsidies for serving approximately 885,000 Lifeline subscribers, even though those subscribers were not using the service. That would be a violation of a key rule—the “non-usage” rule—designed to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse in the Lifeline program.

Sen Ed Markey (D-MA) and 29 other senators wrote a letter to the Federal Communications Commission requesting that the agency discard any plans for setting an overall cap for the Universal Service Fund (USF) programs. "Such a proposal would harm broadband deployment, rural health care opportunities, classroom learning, and life-long learning through public libraries by forcing them to compete in order to receive necessary funds.

The Federal Communications Commission took a step in its efforts to streamline and strengthen consumer eligibility verification for the Lifeline program, as a nationwide automated connection between the Medicaid program and the Lifeline National Eligibility Verifier went live Sept 17. The connection between the Medicaid and Lifeline databases means that the eligibility of up to 60% of the Lifeline-eligible population can be confirmed automatically.

The Aug. 12 Washington Post editorial “Stuck without Internet” outlined possible solutions to address the challenge of connecting more Americans to the Internet. We already have a broadband program to bridge the divide for poor rural Americans.

It’s September and the new school year is underway. Across the country, students are filing into their new classrooms and meeting their new teachers. They are also getting ready for something familiar in education — and that’s homework. What is new about homework, however, is that it now requires internet service. Today, seven in 10 teachers assign homework that requires online access. But data from the Federal Communications Commission, where I work, consistently shows that one in three households does not subscribe to broadband. Where those numbers overlap is the homework gap. 

New America’s Open Technology Institute filed reply comments with the Federal Communications Commission urging it to reject its proposal to impose restrictions on funding for programs that help low-income consumers, schools and libraries, health care providers, and rural telecommunications providers. OTI submitted the reply comments to illustrate the broad range of initial comments that, similar to OTI's initial comments, oppose the FCC’s plan to implement a spending cap for all four Universal Service Fund (USF) programs.

Every facet of society depends on broadband connectivity.  2020 presidential candidate Gov Jay Inslee’s (D-WA) is committed to confronting the rural broadband challenge, by: