Chairman Wheeler Responds to Letter from Rep Marchant Re: Lifeline Expansion

On March 30, Rep Kenny Marchant (R-TX) wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler re: the March announcement to expand the Lifeline telephone subsidy to high-speed Internet access. Rep Marchant wrote, "Given the problems with fraud and cost increases involved in an earlier expansion to cell phone service, this new step risks wasting American consumers' money, and also remains legally tenuous."

On June 23, Chairman Wheeler replied by detailing the key programmatic reforms the Lifeline Order put in place, designed to "protect the integrity of the Lifeline program and build on the Commission's recent efforts to root our waste, fraud, and abuse in the program." To address Rep Marchant's concerns about the cost of the program, Chairman Wheeler detailed the budgeting mechanisms in the Order.


Chairman Wheeler Responds to Letter from Rep Marchant Re: Lifeline Expansion Letter from Rep Marchant Re: Lifeline Order (Rep Marchant's letter)