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Ajit Pai Faces Heat Over Proposal To Take Away Poor People's Broadband Plans (arstechnica.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the if-you-can't-stand-the-heat-get-out-of-the-kitchen dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Democratic senators yesterday asked Ajit Pai to abandon a proposal that the senators say would take subsidized broadband plans away from "millions of Americans." The Federal Communications Commission chairman's plan for the Lifeline subsidy program would force most users of the program to find new providers. But such users could have trouble finding replacement plans or similar prices because Pai's proposal would prevent all telecom resellers from offering Lifeline-subsidized service. "Your proposal impacts over 70 percent of current Lifeline-recipient households by eliminating their wireless providers from the program, leaving less affordable and fewer Lifeline options, while making it more difficult for the companies trying to serve Lifeline customers," Senate Democrats wrote in the letter to Pai yesterday. "Instead of cutting the program, we should ensure Lifeline reaches more Americans in need of access to communication services." The letter was written by Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Cory Booker (D-NJ).

3 of 196 comments (clear)

  1. Re:so what by msmash+(Top+Editor) · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Correct, library is free, FCC do everything it can to keep everyone in the dark. It is like Donald TRUMP try to make people stupid so he win again in 20/20.

  2. Re:Reality of the reason by AHuxley · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Find out of the person is a US citizen.
    Do they pass a means test https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... as a US citizen for eligibility?
    That would stop a lot of the fraud.
    Prove citizenship. Prove the income. Then a US citizen gets some support for a phone service.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  3. Re:Public schools are what keep people dumb by MoarSauce123 · · Score: 1, Interesting

    There is an alternative: homeschooling. Regulations are fairly lax, but still reasonable in most states. A lot of paperwork in NY and total insanity in PA. Some states even reimburse for homeschooling and offer the books for free. Especially in rural regions it is cheaper that way than bus students for hours to a school. Of course, if the parents already work full time jobs and a few side jobs just to get by then this isn't really an alternative.