On March 17, Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-CA) introduced the No Lifeline for the Dead Act (H.R. 7963). Rep. Obernolte says the legislation would strengthen oversight and accountability in the Federal Communications Commission’s Lifeline program.

In January 2026, the FCC's Office of Inspector General (OIG) reported that the Lifeline program had been systematically exploited through fraudulent enrollments of deceased individuals and duplicate subscriber claims. OIG concluded the problem is concentrated in three "opt-out" states (California, Texas, and Oregon), which the FCC permitted to run their own subscriber eligibility verification systems instead of using the Universal Service Administrative Company's (USAC) federal National Verifier and National Lifeline Accountability Database (NLAD).¹ Because these state systems bypass USAC's death checks at the enrollment stage,² they created a significant gap that bad actors—primarily providers and their sales agents—have exploited.

OIG found that between 2020 and 2025, Lifeline providers in opt-out states received nearly $5 million in subsidies for approximately 117,000 deceased people, along with more than 270,000 duplicate claims totaling about $5.5 million. Rep Obernolte noted that 81 percent of the payments for the deceased claimed by providers were in California, his home state. 

“The Lifeline program plays an important role in helping Americans stay connected, but taxpayers deserve accountability,” said Rep. Obernolte.  The report "shows that California’s failure to use federal verification systems allowed millions of dollars to go to ineligible recipients, including deceased individuals. That is unacceptable. This bill corrects that problem.” 

The No Lifeline for the Dead Act would require, within 120 days, the FCC to adopt new rules for the Lifeline program that mandate that all states use federal verification systems. Within 180 days, every current Lifeline participant would have to recertify their eligibility if the initial check did not use the National Lifeline Eligibility Verifier and the National Lifeline Accountability Database. If that new check determines they are ineligible under the new program rules, they can no longer participate in Lifeline.

H.R. 7963 would also clarify that U.S. citizens and "qualified aliens" are eligible to participate in the Lifeline program. According to the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), a "qualified alien" is a non-citizen eligible for federal public benefits. To be qualified at the time they apply for and receive a federal benefit like Lifeline, the person must be:

1. an alien who is lawfully admitted for permanent residence,
2. an alien who is granted asylum,
3. a refugee who is admitted to the United States,
4. an alien who is paroled into the United States for a period of at least 1 year,
5. an alien whose deportation is being withheld,
6. an alien who is granted conditional entry,
7. an alien who is a Cuban and Haitian entrant, or
8. an individual who lawfully resides in the United States.

The No Lifeline for the Dead Act would require Lifeline applicants to supply their full Social Security Number (or a Tribal identifier) to be eligible for the benefit.

The No Lifeline for the Dead Act and the FCC's Lifeline NPRM

On February 18, the FCC adopted a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) aimed at ensuring that eligible Americans receive support, program integrity is upheld, and service providers comply with the Commission’s rules and regulations. Specifically, the NPRM considers ways to:  enhance program integrity to ensure Lifeline services are actually used to benefit lawful low-income Americans; optimize and improve Lifeline program processes, including possible reforms to the National Lifeline Accountability Database (NLAD) opt-out process to prevent fraud; and promote principled service provider conduct and updates to the Lifeline program rules and other affordability program rules that are no longer necessary.  

The NPRM states that the FCC seeks to ensure the Lifeline rules reflect current and best practices to support low-income Americans while ensuring efficiency, transparency, and accountability.

1. Eliminating State Opt-Out Status Permanently

Agreements between the FCC, USAC, and states and territories allow quick verification of Lifeline eligibility. Nearly one quarter of Lifeline subscribers are verified through these state connections.

Three states—California,³ Oregon, and Texas—have had special permission from the FCC to use their own Lifeline eligibility verification system instead of the federal system.⁴ In 2025, nearly one-quarter of Lifeline subscribers (24.43%, 2,147,610 total) were verified by these three states.

The No Lifeline for the Dead Act would require all eligibility determinations to use the National Verifier and the National Lifeline Accountability Database, with no option for any state to opt out. This goes further than the NPRM in one important respect: the NPRM seeks comment on whether to continue permitting opt-out states to use their own verification processes, leaving open the possibility that some form of opt-out could survive. The bill eliminates that possibility entirely by statute, making it a congressional mandate rather than an FCC policy choice. The legislation would also set a hard 180-day deadline for re-examining and potentially disenrolling all existing subscribers who were enrolled through state opt-out processes—meaning Texas and Oregon subscribers currently enrolled through state systems would face mandatory re-verification on a statutory timeline with no transition flexibility.

2. Re-Verifying All Opt-Out State Subscribers Within 180 Days

The NPRM recommends that FCC and USAC reverify subscriber eligibility—but as an administrative action, not a statutory requirement with a hard deadline. The bill would mandate that every subscriber enrolled through a state opt-out process be re-verified through the National Verifier and the National Lifeline Accountability Database within 180 days, with automatic disenrollment for those who fail re-verification. Texas and Oregon together account for a substantial portion of the approximately 116,808 deceased subscribers the OIG identified.

3. Restricting Eligibility to Citizens and Qualified Aliens

The NPRM proposes to classify Lifeline as a federal public benefit under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA). The No Lifeline for the Dead Act would restrict eligibility to citizens and "qualified aliens" but does not explicitly impose a five-year waiting period that the NPRM raises as a potential consequence of the PRWORA classification. The five-year waiting period flows from PRWORA's definition of qualified alien eligibility for means-tested benefits,⁵ so whether it applies would depend on whether Lifeline is also classified as a means-tested benefit. By not addressing the means-tested benefit question directly, the bill leaves open the same eligibility ambiguity the NPRM raises—a gap Congress could resolve explicitly if it chose to.

4. Requiring Full Social Security Numbers

The bill would require Lifeline applicants to provide their full Social Security Numbers (SSN) (or a Tribal identifier) as a condition of eligibility. This aligns directly with one of the NPRM's proposals and with the OIG's recommendation first made in 2016 and renewed in January 2026. Unlike the NPRM, which seeks comment on the full SSN requirement, the bill would mandate it by statute, removing the FCC's discretion to adopt a different verification approach.

Conclusion

The No Lifeline for the Dead Act and the NPRM are pursuing some of the same goals through different mechanisms. The legislation tracks OIG's findings more narrowly and precisely than the NPRM does. OIG documented fraud concentrated in opt-out states, involving deceased subscribers and duplicate enrollments. The bill addresses exactly those problems by eliminating opt-out status, mandating re-verification of opt-out state subscribers, and requiring full SSN collection for identity verification. The No Lifeline for the Dead Act does not propose immigration waiting periods, usage tracking extensions, or one-per-residence rules, proposals that could reduce enrollment among legitimate Lifeline subscribers. 

Though the No Lifeline for the Dead Act was referred to the House Commerce Committee in March and has no cosponsors or Senate companion legislation, it represents a legislative marker for what a narrowly targeted fraud-prevention approach to Lifeline reform could look like—one that stays closer to what the FCC OIG actually found than the FCC's broader NPRM does.

Additional Reading

• How the Trump Administration is Narrowing the Path to Lifeline, Part I: The One Big Beautiful Bill
• How the Trump Administration is Narrowing the Path to Lifeline, Part II: The FCC
• FCC to Vote to Open New Lifeline Proceeding
• Chairman Carr Sees Dead People
• What the Inspector General Found Out About Lifeline
• What Did the FCC Just Do to California?

Notes

1. As the OIG has previously found, the FCC's implementation of the National Lifeline Accountability Database (NLAD) substantially reduced the number of duplicate enrollments in its programs, and the National Verifier significantly reduced eligibility fraud. Moreover, the FCC’s transition to reimbursing program providers’ claims based on the number of subscribers the provider actually enrolled in NLAD, not solely on self-reported information furnished by the providers, enhanced program integrity and credibility.
2. In response to OIG recommendations made in 2017, the FCC and USAC, the Lifeline program administrator, began performing a death check during the Lifeline enrollment process. However, OIG investigations continued to identify deceased enrollees in the Lifeline program, the $3.2 billion Emergency Broadband Benefits Program (EBB) instituted during the Pandemic, and the $14.2 billion Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which ended in 2024. 
3. Late in 2025, California’s permission was revoked and the FCC is now proposing to revoke permission for Oregon and Texas.
4. The National Lifeline Accountability Database and  Lifeline National Eligibility Verifier.
5. A federal means-tested benefit is a government assistance program that provides aid (cash, food, housing, or healthcare) only to individuals or families whose income and assets fall below a specific, pre-determined threshold. These programs are designed to support low-income Americans, with eligibility determined by a "means test" that assesses financial need.

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