Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, has written to FCC Chairman Julius...
Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, has written to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski to urge the chairman not to cap the Lifeline and Link-Up programs. The programs are the fastest-growing parts of the Universal Service Fund because of the slumping economy and…
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the plummeting costs of cellphones, Kucinich said. “The increase in participation has, understandably, increased the cost of the programs,” Kucinich said. “This is not a bad result -- it is a good result.” It’s a “matter of great personal interest to me,” Kucinich added: “When I was growing up, my family moved 21 times and, on occasion, we lived in our car. There were times when we needed telephone service, but did not have it. I know personally how important it is to have access to a telephone, and what the results are when a family does not have it. I don’t want any family to be in that situation.” The commission is working on an interim Lifeline order designed to curb duplicate payments in a dozen states but the Democratic commissioners have pushed back, saying they're not happy with the notice provisions of the order (CD June 14 p2). Kucinich’s letter takes aim at some of the bigger questions of the proceeding, arguing against the cap as well as the proposed “one per address” rules. “There is no evidence of fraud or abuse of the programs that has been publicly released,” he said. “If there is fraud or abuse of the program, it should be dealt with appropriately, but not by an arbitrary ‘one-per-address’ restriction, when the mandate from Congress is ’to make telecommunications service available to all Americans.'"