House GOP wants to cap Internet subsidy budget

House Commerce Committee Republican Reps are vowing to take up a bill that would set a budget cap on a program aimed at offering phone and Internet subsidies to the poor. They made the announcement shortly after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to overhaul and expand the program known as Lifeline in a dramatic meeting March 31. As it stands, the FCC proposal includes a $2.25 billion “budget mechanism.” If spending nears that level, the FCC will have to decide whether to increase the funding. But without a cap, Republican Reps said, that total could easily be exceeded even if the agency does nothing. The GOP bill sponsored by Rep Austin Scott (R-GA) would cap the program at $1.5 billion. It is sure to receive strong pushback from Democratic Reps, however, and has no real chance of enactment under President Barack Obama.

In fact, House Democratic Reps helped convince FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn to break her deal with FCC Republican Commissioners a day earlier. A group of nine House Democrats on the Energy and Commerce Committee sent the FCC a late letter to “express concern” about a cap. “Demand is expected to increase as the program transitions to include broadband service, and any cap would threaten the goals and purpose of Lifeline,” they warned. “We strongly support the commission’s effort to modernize and expand Lifeline, but by establishing an artificial cap on funding from the outset, many low-income consumers could find themselves without any mechanism to bridge the digital divide,” according to the letter.