U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., on Wednesday became the latest of nearly four-dozen congressmen, five of them from Florida's delegation, to co-sponsor legislation that would end one of the most controversial and widely lambasted Obama-era welfare programs: 'free' taxpayer-funded cell phones.
"It defies common sense that we are giving away millions of free cell phones at the same time the Federal Aviation Administration imposes cutbacks that are delaying flights across the nation, Buchanan said in a statement announcing his co-sponsorship of HR 176, a bill introduced by Rep. Tom Griffin, R-Ark. The federal government is not an unlimited plan. The Stop Taxpayer Funded Cell Phones Act is a step in the right direction to show the American people that Congress is serious about rooting out the waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government. Its time to disconnect this boondoggle.
The so-called Obama phones are not basic phones that only dial out to 9-11; they include camera phones and smart phones, given to program recipients without charge and with up to 250 free monthly minutes. The 'free' phones which came to public attention after local media coverage of an Obama supporter bragging about the benefit went viral on YouTube during last year's presidential election cycle -- are paid for by taxpayers through a universal service fund included on their monthly cell phone bill.
We have to get spending under control. If the choice is coming down to free cell phones or air traffic controllers, who President Obamas people at the FAA decided to furlough this week, then this isnt a tough decision to make, Rep. Ted Yoho told Sunshine State News, when asked to explain his co-sponsorship of Griffin's bill. The $2.2 billion it cost the taxpayers last year could go a long way in offsetting the sequestration cuts that are being used to hurt people. This phone program is another example of the federal government stepping in where state and local governments should have acted if they wanted to.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has itself conceded that the program, known as Lifeline and started by Ronald Reagan as an effort to provide emergency landline phone services to the economically disadvantaged, is rife with lack of oversight and even outright fraud. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that 41 percent of more than 6 million Lifeline subscribers either couldn't demonstrate their eligibility to the FCC or didn't respond to requests for certification; and the FCC also admits that at least 270,000 receive more than one taxpayer-subsidized phone, contrary to what the law provides.
The Obama phone program is open to people who meet federal poverty guidelines or are on food stamps, Medicaid ,or other assistance programs, but only one Lifeline subscriber is allowed per household.
When the federal government is broke, you just have to make some decisions about what essential services we can provide and curtail some of those expenses that have just spiraled to huge amounts, Rep. John Mica, another one of the bill's co-sponsors, tells SSN.
HR 176 would leave emergency landline services intact. Mica says he's optimistic about the bill's prospects in the U.S. House of Representatives, where it will receive its first hearing by the Energy and Commerce Committee later this week. Even if the bill fails, he points out Congress can still use the budget appropriations process to reform the program.
The three remaining Republican co-sponsors of the bill are Richard Nugent, Dennis Ross, and Trey Radel. No Democratic co-sponsors were reported by the time this story went to press.
At least one Senate Democrat has focused her sights on the program.
"I got solicitation for a free phone at my apartment, which is certainly not a building where you're going to have people who are qualified for free phones," Missouri's Claire McCaskill recently told Fox News. "There is clearly money being wasted here."
Reach Eric Giunta at egiunta@sunshinestatenews.com or at (954) 235-9116.
