Lawmakers, civil rights, and public interest groups oppose Pai’s war on Lifeline

Sixty-eight Members of Congress, civil rights, labor, and public interest groups signaled their opposition to FCC Chairman Pai’s attempts to gut the Lifeline program. The Lifeline program addresses the high cost of broadband service and helps close the digital divide. Late last year, Chairman Pai began his newest assault on the Lifeline program, attempting to hollow out the program.

“The Lifeline program is essential for millions of Americans who use their devices to find jobs, to schedule doctor’s appointments, to complete their school assignments, to interface with government, or to stay in touch with their loved ones,” the lawmakers wrote. “We therefore ask that you abandon this proceeding cutting the Lifeline program, and instead move forward with a full implementation of the 2016 reforms, including the expedition of the National Verifier.”

Numerous organizations weighed in on the record in defense of the Lifeline program and in opposition to the Republican majority’s proposals to gut the program. “The record in this proceeding is abundantly clear – the FCC’s proposed changes to Lifeline would devastate families currently enrolled in the program and further widen the digital divide,” read the reply comments from the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, which cited CWA’s initial comments. “We urge the Commission to take heed of the overwhelming evidence in the record opposed to the agency’s proposed changes to the Lifeline program and reverse course.” AARP, the National Hispanic Media Coalition, and Public Knowledge submitted reply comments, among others.

Links:

68 lawmakers’ letter to Chairman Pai (US Congress, Mar. 21, 2018)

Pai’s FCC continues policy approach: giveaways for Sinclair, attacks on the poor (Speed Matters, Oct. 27, 2017)

CWA, civil rights, public interest groups urge FCC to preserve Lifeline (Speed Matters, Feb. 26, 2018)

Reply Comments in the FCC’s Lifeline proceeding (The Leadership Conference, Mar. 23, 2018)