Expanding Lifeline to include broadband

Three members of the U.S. House have introduced legislation “to reform and modernize the Universal Service Fund (USF) Lifeline Assistance Program,” to include broadband service as well as basic phone service to Lifeline program recipients. Lifeline is, according to the FCC, the “government benefit program that provides discounts on monthly telephone service for eligible low-income consumers.”

The three California Democrats – Doris Matsui, Henry Waxman and Anna Eshoo – introduced the Broadband Adoption Act of 2013 as one that “would help bridge the digital divide by making in-home broadband services more affordable across the country."

Congresswoman Matsui said, ““In today’s digital economy, if you don’t have access to the Internet you are simply at a competitive disadvantage.  For example, more than 80 percent of available jobs now require online applications,”

The Matsui bill also requires improved accountability measures to forestall abuse of the program. But primarily, the three see this new legislation as a way to begin to extend needed broadband to the many millions of Americans – primarily among the rural, low-income and minority – who can’t yet participate fully in today’s technological society.

CWA offered its support for the Matsui bill, saying that we “applaud your efforts to ensure that all Americans – including low-income Americans – have access to high-speed broadband.”

Matsui, Waxman, Eshoo Introduce Legislation to Expand Lifeline for Universal Broadband Adoption (Matsui news release, Apr. 23, 2013)

Letter to Congresswoman Doris Matsui (CWA, Apr. 23, 2013)