A bipartisan group of senators wants to expand an investigation into fraudulent federal subsidies for cellphones and broadband service provided to low-income people.
Sens. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., Ron Johnson, R-Wis., Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Tom Carper, D-Del., want the Federal Communications Commission and its Inspector General to examine a scathing report on the federal Lifeline program that found significant fraud.
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The report was authored in May by the Government Accountability Office and found “extensive problems” with the Lifeline program. Specifically, the report accused a dozen phone companies of approving Lifeline applicants “with fictitious eligibility information” 63 percent of the time, and it found the federal government wasted millions annually on subsidies for falsified applications or deceased people.
“Addressing systemic weaknesses in Lifeline management and oversight, along with the referral of each instance of potential fraud identified by GAO, will ensure that the waste, fraud, and abuse that [GAO] identified is eliminated,” the senators wrote to the GAO on Monday.
The Lifeline program was created in 1985 to help the poor afford telephone service. It was later expanded to include broadband and cellphones. Former President Barack Obama was at one point erroneously credited with creating the program, and the nickname “Obamaphone” emerged.
The FCC oversees the program, and consumers pay for it through a small surcharge on their phone bills.
Various investigations have uncovered widespread fraud and abuse in the program, and the FCC has instituted reforms.
In the most recent GAO report issued in May, however, investigators found 1,246,817 “potentially fraudulent accounts” exist that cost the federal government more than $138 million annually. According to the report, 6,378 people who were issued Lifeline benefits are dead.
The senators want the FCC to examine the GAO report (see below) and fix the problems.
“Addressing systemic weaknesses in Lifeline management and oversight, along with the referral of each instance of potential fraud identified by GAO will ensure that the waste, fraud and abuse you’ve identified is eliminated,” senators wrote to GAO Comptroller General Gene Dodaro.
