TheHill Tech: FCC's low-income broadband plan under scrutiny / AT&T weighs in
The Hill
LEDE: The FCC's Lifeline program will get its share of Congressional scrutiny Tuesday -- less than a week after Chairman Tom Wheeler announced plans to expand it to provide broadband subsidies to low-income Americans.
Tuesday morning, the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet will hold a hearing on the program. It is sure to feature tough questions from Republicans, who view it as a poorly managed effort and have criticized abuse in the past.
Critics point to a recent GAO audit http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-15-335 that found gaps in the way that the commission evaluated the program's effectiveness. Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) has argued against any expansion until better evaluations take place.
Supporters have sought to silence the criticism by suggesting their own accountability measures. Wheeler's proposal calls for providers to keep data on recipients for 10 years and will consider whether the budget for the whole program should be capped.
A group of Democratic lawmakers announced a bill on Monday that is designed to support the FCC's proposal. It would order the FCC to keep a "national database" to prevent people from receiving a Lifeline subsidy twice and mandate another GAO audit.
AT&T WEIGHS IN: In a blog post, AT&T said that any reform to Lifeline should shift the burden of determining who is eligible from carriers to the government -- something the FCC proposal includes -- and said it agreed with the agency's decision to expand the program to include broadband. The company said that any reforms to the program should be done within the confines of its current budget.
http://www.attpublicpolicy.com/fcc/a-21st-century-safety-net/
