Notice of National Lifeline Association Presentation to Office of Chairman Carr

Representatives for the National Lifeline Association met with the Office of Chairman Carr to discuss the draft Lifeline Notice of Proposed Rulemaking released on January 28, 2026. NaLA emphasized the need for and urged the Commission to revise the Draft NPRM to include questions about whether the $9.25 monthly support amount is enough to make entry-level broadband plans affordable for Lifeline-eligible households. Recognizing that program integrity relies on rules that attract participation by eligible households and compliance-centric providers, NaLA offered the following specific feedback on the Draft NPRM:

• NaLA supports benefit transfer limits like those that were in place for the Affordable Connectivity Program, but for 60 days rather than 30 and with narrow exceptions administered by the Universal Service Administrative Company.
• NaLA supports requiring usage on all Lifeline plans, including those with monthly billing and collection relationships.
• NaLA supports efforts to ensure that applicants provide informed consent for enrollments and transfers, including adoption by the Commission of standardized language to obtain consents from eligible households. However, careful consideration needs to be given to requiring an affirmative secondary response to a text or email and what that would look like for the population served by this program.