44 Mayors and City Leaders Support Modernizing Federal Lifeline Program to Include Broadband

Forty-four mayors and city officials sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission supporting the FCC’s proposal to improve Internet access for low-income families through the federal Lifeline program. A bipartisan group of municipal leaders from communities across the nation expressed their support for a proposal that will likely come before the FCC in early 2016, which would allow low-income families to use their Lifeline benefit to purchase broadband services at a subsidized rate.

In the letter, city leaders encouraged the FCC to ratify the proposal to modernize the Lifeline program, stressing the need to put “broadband in reach” for low-income families in order to enhance education, civic engagement, and economic opportunity. The mayors’ letter also specified principles they support in a Lifeline proposal, including a portable benefit that promotes competition and a budget-neutral approach to Lifeline modernization.

The mayoral letter was coordinated by Next Century Cities, a nonprofit membership organization made up of mayors and other elected city leaders working to ensure fast, affordable, and reliable Internet access for all of their residents. City leaders signing the letter included mayors from major metropolitan areas such as Boston, MA, Charlotte, NC, and Seattle, WA as well as smaller communities such as Mount Vernon, WA, Davidson, NC, and Yellow Springs, OH.