Is broadband access key to elevating low-income Americans into the middle class?
WASHINGTON – Efforts by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler and Democratic lawmakers to expand the Lifeline Assistance Program to provide low-cost Internet connection to low-income Americans is facing resistance from Republican lawmakers.
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation and the Internet, said, “There are many benefits of broadband, but before again expanding the program, we need to consider what problems remain and how we can address them since consumers are funding the program with increasing phone bills.”
In addition to the FCC proposal circulated by Wheeler to offer $1.7 billion in subsidies to connect poor Americans to the Internet, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) has co-sponsored legislation with other prominent Democrats in support of updating the long-neglected program.
Booker said in a written statement: “In a world that is more and more interconnected, Internet access has become a necessity for social and economic well-being. We must work to ensure everyone has a chance to access the opportunities this technology provides.”
Booker said that lawmakers need to make proactive moves to “help bridge the digital divide and level the playing field for all Americans.”
The movement for reform has won the support of lobbyists and the industry, with James W. Cicconi, a senior EVP of AT&T telling the New York Times that he sees Internet access as “the more important Lifeline technology for the 21st century.”
Cicconi oversaw the creation of the Lifeline Assistance Program when he worked in the Reagan administration.
Scott Bergman, VP of regulatory affairs for CTIA, made that group’s case: “Over the nearly three decades since its creation, the Lifeline program has served an important purpose by enabling low-income consumers to access essential communications services.”
Despite popular support, the program is likely to face an uphill fight in the GOP-controlled Congress as Sen. Richard Blumenthal, (D-Conn.) noted, the “boogeyman of waste, fraud and abuse” has been repeatedly razed by the GOP.
Any reform to any government program is unlikely to go down well with GOP voters, especially primary voters who are enthralled with the notion that the government is always the problem.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) said, “Lifeline obviously is kind of a controversial program and one that doesn’t enjoy a lot of support up here, at least from Republicans. An expansion of the program is probably not something there’s going to be a lot of support for.”
The issue also has drawn criticism from the House, with Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Telecom Subcommittee stating, “Depending upon how they do it, how much they’re looking at spending, you can’t have a blank check, and that’s something we’ve got to keep an eye on. This is still taxpayer, ratepayer money, and I think it’s important for us to do some oversight in that area, to look at how it’s being spent, who’s getting it, what are the controls.”
