Date: 2016-06-21
Speaker: AUSTIN SCOTT (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Georgia

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of H.R. 5525. the End Taxpayer Funded Cell Phones Act of 2016. which would prohibit universal service fund support through the Lifeline program to commercial mobile and data service carriers. This legislation would restore the Lifeline program to its original intent of providing access to telecommunication services for eligible individuals via landline phones. Many of us in this body and many of our constituents have witnessed tents and stands outside of our grocery stores or on the street corner giving away socalled free phones. At a time when everyday Americans are working harder and harder to make ends meet and when government spending is out of control. our constituents dont understand why this is still going on. And. Mr. Speaker. neither do I. Before I go further. I want to be clear. These Americans who accept these free phones are not the ones who are taking advantage of this system. It is the carriers who stand to benefit from the system that are taking advantage of our citizens. and the program is systemically unable to stop the cycle of waste. fraud. and abuse. When offered something for free with little or no verification and with little or no knowledge about who is paying for that item. I believe you would be hard pressed to find someone who wouldnt. at least. consider taking the item. The problem is that there is a financial incentive for the carriers to expand the number of Lifeline users. and there is far less incentive to diligently verify the eligibility of the individuals who apply. The Lifeline program. created under President Reagan to serve a legitimate need. has largely gone unchecked and has ballooned since 2005. when it was expanded to include mobile phone services. While the FCC has implemented reforms aimed at rooting out the waste. fraud. and abuse in the program. serious issues remain to this day. For example. the National Lifeline Accountability Database was created to help carriers prevent duplication of service. However. certain carriers use the independent economic household override to easily circumvent the onephonenumberperhousehold rule by merely checking the box on a form without any supporting documentation. Data recently obtained by the FCC reveals that between October of 2014 and April of 2016. carriers enrolled 4.291.647 duplicate subscribers to the Lifeline program by widespread use of this targeted exception to the programs oneperson household rule. When skirting the rules is so easy. fraud becomes rampant. Additionally. Mr. Speaker. in April of this year. the FCC fined a carrier. Total Call Mobile. for overbilling the Lifeline program for millions of dollars by fraudulently enrolling duplicate and ineligible consumers. Again. the carrier. Total Call Mobile. was able to do this by circumventing the National Lifeline Accountability Database and manipulating customer information. These reports come on the heels of the FCCs recent announcement to increase the socalled budget for Lifeline by $725 million. a tax increase on Americans which is neither subject to congressional oversight nor approval. While the widespread fraud is not hindering eligible recipients from receiving phones. it is costing taxpaying Americans money. In order to increase the Lifeline budget. if you will. the FCC must increase the universal service fee. I bet most Americans dont know what fee I am talking about. The universal service fee is a tax on the bottom of your phone bill right here. That socalled fee is what pays for the FCCs Universal Service Fund. which includes the Lifeline program. When the costs of the Lifeline program go up because of waste. fraud. and abuse. you know who pays for it? Everyday Americans. who are already struggling to make ends meet. get a tax increase on their phone bill. The FCC is asking for Americans to shoulder the cost of this increase without fully addressing the fraud. waste. and abuse within the program. It is clear that this lack of accountability and rampant fraud is systemic to the Lifeline program. and the price of this continues to be paid by Americans across the country. American taxpayers are already overburdened. Mr. Speaker. and should not be forced to pay for a program that is unquestionably riddled with waste. fraud. and abuse. It is simple good governance to rein in programs like Lifeline that have vastly expanded in scope and have done so with an everincreasing share of Americans hardearned dollars. Congress must act to impose fiscal discipline to ensure increased costs are not shouldered by Americans. I do not stand here today and say that there is not a need for Lifeline. nor do I deny the fact that there are a good number of people in this country who are eligible for this program. We should continue to ensure that the Lifeline program exists to provide those people with access to critical telecommunications services. but we should also remember the many people making just barely enough not to be eligible for assistance through Lifeline who would be hurt by any increase in the taxes on their phone bill: an increase caused by a government that wont deal with the crisis of waste. fraud. and abuse. The original intent of the Lifeline program was pure: provide access to telecommunications services to consumers. including lowincome consumers at reasonable and affordable rates. My legislation aims to restore that original intent. We can provide for people in need without taking from those who have nothing left to give. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.