If Congress wants there to be a broadband subsidy for the poor, it needs to specifically authorize one. The current law simply does not provide for it, and the FCC needs to obey the law.
As the owner of a small ISP, I'd like to figure out a way to provide to service to everyone regardless of their income. Internet access is critical at this point for even the most basic societal functions.
No, it isn't. I'm at a tipping point of canceling my Comcast cable/internet because I don't think it's worth $80/month. 90% of what I do online at home is for entertainment. And I would guess that is the same for most households that don't have a tech worker. (I am a tech worker, but I've finally trained myself to not take work home).
Really the only reason I keep it is because I don't want to deal with griping from the kids.
I should also mention that not everywhere has access to a public library that is free to use. I lived next to one of those districts - the next township (and town) over didn't have one. Since they didn't pay taxes into the library, they had to pay a yearly fee. Only pre-school children were exempt.
Phone books used to be the primary source of that information, but they are getting thinner and thinner as the years go on. Not to mention it's only updated once a year.
Obviously it was explicitly tailored to telephones when it was passed over 30 years ago. That doesn't mean that reworking the program under the existing law is automatically a bad idea.
Rather than assuming motives you should assess the actual cost/benefit.
Legal Authority
38. The principles listed in section 254 of the Act make clear that deployment of, and access to, telecommunications and information services are important components of a robust and successful federal universal service program, including the directive to address low-income needs.86 In section 254[2], Congress expressly recognized the importance of ensuring that low-income consumers “have access to telecommunications and information services, including . . . advanced telecommunications and information services” and that universal service is an “evolving level of telecommunications service.”87
...
41. Our approach is also supported by section 254(c)(1)(A). Under that provision, the Commission considers whether a given supported service is “essential to education, public health, or public safety.”97 We explain above the importance of BIAS to education and healthcare, among other things, along with the need for discounts in order to enable low-income consumers to realize those benefits.98 We therefore conclude that BIAS is essential for education and public health for low-income Americans.
42. Section 254(c)(1)(B) directs the Commission to consider whether the service at issue has “through the operation of market choices by customers, been subscribed to by a substantial majority of residential customers.”99
footnote 92. ... Even before that, however, during the time the Commission had classified BIAS as generally an information service, it recognized the possibility of broadband Internet access transmission being offered on a common carrier basis as a telecommunications service. See, e.g., Appropriate Regulatory Treatment For Broadband Access to the Internet Over Wireless Networks, Declaratory Ruling, 22 FCC Rcd 5901, 5913-14, para. 33 (2007);[3]
[1] https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-16-38A1.pd...
[2] 47 U.S. Code § 254 - Universal service https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/47/254
[3] https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-07-30A1.pd...
> (j) Lifeline assistance Nothing in this section shall affect the collection, distribution, or administration of the Lifeline Assistance Program provided for by the Commission under regulations set forth in section 69.117 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, and other related sections of such title.
What makes it relevant to the discussion, then?
With Chevron deference (soon?) gone, perhaps courts will actually adjudicate whether this interpretation is within the framework of the law.
Good idea; when's it coming?
In the 2016 Lifeline Modernization Order, the Commission established a framework for the Bureau to designate providers as LBPs, eligible to receive Lifeline reimbursement for qualifying broadband Internet access service (BIAS) provided to eligible low-income consumers.