Are you on welfare? Did you get your free Obamaphone? Now Obama and his Democrats want to give you free WiFi Internet service, too. Aren’t you lucky? The rest of us aren’t so lucky, though, as we’ll have to foot the bill for all these freebies.
You’ll remember in the last few years that Obama wildly expanded his free Obamaphone program, giving free cell service to millions of people who don’t need it. Well, now he wants to up the ante and give them free WiFi, too. All courtesy of we, the taxpayer.
Now the Federal Communications Commission is readying a proposal to extend the subsidies to the Internet, setting up a new battle with Republicans who already want to shut down the effort.
Lifeline currently pays carriers to reduce the cost of phone service by $9.25 a month for low-income households. Funded by a universal service fee on consumer phone bills, it’s drawn criticism over cases of fraud and misuse — with conservatives dubbing it Obamaphone even though the program dates back to the Reagan administration.
But the agency’s Democratic majority wants to broaden the program to pay for Internet service to give more people access to broadband and close the nation’s “digital divide.” Chairman Tom Wheeler circulated his proposal to the other commissioners on Thursday so they can vote on it at the agency’s June 18 meeting.
Wheeler said he wants to “‘reboot’ Lifeline for the Internet age.”
More freebies for those who won’t work paid for by the dwindling number of us who are working.