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Obamaphones are included in Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats coronavirus stimulus plan, the National Republican Congressional Committee says.
The NRCC also railed against the coronavirus aid package which also includes $35 million for the Kennedy Center in a press release. NRCC Spokesman Michael McAdams is quoted in the statement as saying, “People are dying and all Nancy Pelosi and Democrats can focus on is ripping off the American taxpayer to help pay for their liberal wish list of government handouts.” The statement added that the stimulus package was “full of unrelated liberal goodies.”
Lifeline Was Established by Ronald Reagan in 1984
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In their report on the return of the Obamaphone, Fox News referred to the program as being “notorious.” The Obamaophone project does not give out free phones to certain people. The project, the official title is Lifeline, was the brainchild of Ronald Reagan following the break-up of AT&T. Lifeline was expanded under the Telecommunications Act under Bill Clinton. The project evolved to include cell phones under George W. Bush, under the moniker SafeLink Wireless.
According to the Federal Communications Commission website the project “provides discounts on monthly service and initial telephone installation or activation fees for primary residences to income-eligible consumers.” The description continues, “The FCC and Congress recognize that telephone service provides a vital link to emergency services, government services and surrounding communities.”
Obamaphones Are Not Paid for Through ‘Taxpayer Revenue’
As ABC News noted in a 2012 report on false information about the project being spread on social media, “The program is paid for by telecommunications companies through the nonprofit Universal Service Administrative Company, not through taxpayer revenue.”
That report centered around a fake video that was being circulated by The Tea Party Victory Fund, a conservative Super PAC. The group claimed that President Barack Obama’s administration was handing out free cell phones in exchange for votes. A New York Times editorial on the Tea Party ad said, “The ad fits into the narrative that minorities are moochers and that government programs transfer wealth from white people to black people. The ad fits into the narrative that minorities are moochers and that government programs transfer wealth from white people to black people.”
President Obama Brought Lifeline Into the Internet Age
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In 2015, Fox News aired a segment that was critical of President Obama’s “radical” expansion of the project, liberal blog Media Matters for America reported at the time. Fox News analyst Charles Payne tweeted that the project would lead to the “further enslavement of the ‘poor.'” A 2015 op-ed in the Wall Street Journal alleged that only one in 20 users of Lifeline actually “needed” to use the program.
Politico reported in 2015 that Lifeline was reducing the monthly cost of a phone by $9.25. The “radical” expansion of the project was designed to give those who took advantage of the project access to faster internet.
Politico quoted Obama as saying of Fox News’ criticism of the project, “I think that the effort to suggest that the poor are sponges, leeches, don’t want to work, are undeserving, got traction. And look, it’s still being propagated. And I have to say, if you watch Fox News on a regular basis, they will find folks who make me mad. I don’t know where they find them! They’ll find folks who say, ‘I don’t want to work, I just want a free Obamaphone!’”
Obamaphones Have Created Controversy in the Past
The FCC announced a major overhaul of Lifeline in January 2012 in part to reflect the telecommunications shift to cellular and the internet. The overhaul also targeted abuses of the program.
In 2017, Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, ordered an investigation into Lifeline. The Washington Times reported that the investigation found that Lifeline had “stashed” $9 million in a private bank account. The newspaper quoted McCaskill as saying, “A complete lack of oversight is causing this program to fail the American taxpayer — everything that could go wrong is going wrong. We’re currently letting phone companies cash a government check every month with little more than the honor system to hold them accountable, and that simply can’t continue.” While investigators said that around 36 percent of users of the project may not actually qualify for benefits.
Shortly after President Donald Trump’s election in November 2016, false rumors spread online that Lifeline benefits were about to be rescinded. California, New York and Florida are the biggest users of the Lifeline project with 1.5 million subscribers, NBC News reported in 2015. Wyoming and North Dakota had the fewest users. In February 2017, Axios reported that the project was likely to be eliminated under the Trump administration.
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