FCC Proposes Reforms into Phone and Internet Fraud: ‘No Taxpayer Dollars for Dead People’

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Wednesday proposed reforms to the agency’s program that helps low-income Americans afford phone and internet services amidst reports of abuse of the program, especially in states such as California.

“The government should not be spending your money to provide phone & internet service to dead people,” FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said as the FCC adopted the proposal to reform the Lifeline, the cell phone and internet service subsidy program.

The Lifeline program accounts for roughly $1 billion in spending every year; however, one report from the agency’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that the Lifeline program provided taxpayer dollars for phone and internet services for more than 116,000 dead people.

The proposed reforms would ensure program integrity for Lifeline, which includes:

• Lifeline should only be available for U.S. citizens and persons with appropriate qualified status under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996;
• enhanced requirements that ensure program participants are truly eligible as legal, living, and eligible Americans;
• improve program integrity and efficiency, including reforms for states that have been permitted to opt out of program integrity verifications by the Universal Service Administrative Company;
• streamlining Lifeline program rules and minimizing stakeholder confusion.

Carr in late January noted that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s California was “by far” the worst offender for opt-out states, which allowed 94,000 dead people to be used to obtained federal dollars for phone and internet services.

The FCC on Tuesday announced investigations into Lifeline providers and other opt-out states.

“I’ll reiterate: My position is that the government should not be spending your money to provide phone and internet service to dead people. In keeping with this apparently controversial stance, the FCC is cracking down on waste, fraud, and abuse by launching investigations into the apparent enrollment of dead people and duplicate subscribers in this critical connectivity program,” the FCC chairman said in a statement.

Carr added, “California’s efforts to get around federal rules to prevent misuse of federal dollars has already resulted in their being kicked out of the ‘opt-out’ program and now we are launching investigations into the companies that may be facilitating this type of waste, fraud and abuse.”