GAO Should Refer Critical Lifeline Management Report to FCC for Action, Senate Homeland Security Leaders Say
Four Senate Homeland Security Committee leaders urged GAO Monday to refer its May report on continued “weaknesses” in the Lifeline USF program’s management to the FCC Enforcement Bureau and Office of Inspector General “for further investigation and possible enforcement action.”…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
Committee Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., ranking member Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and ranking member Tom Carper, D-Del., sought the additional action in a letter to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro. GAO said the Lifeline program’s management remains deficient despite FCC and Universal Service Administrative Co. efforts to improve controls over finances and enrollment by low-income consumers. The report also identified broader problems in USF contribution system oversight and the commission's use of a private bank account rather than the Treasury Department to store $9 billion in USF net assets (see 1706290037). “GAO found numerous examples of [Lifeline] program funds being used to subsidize ineligible or fraudulent subscribers,” the senators said. “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 [the GAO] identified is eliminated.” They also sought GAO results from undercover testing of Lifeline providers. The FCC and USAC didn’t comment.