DC: Obama Era Lifeline Program Audit Shows Over $300M Potentially Wasted.
The Lifeline telecom subsidy — more commonly called “Obamaphone” — program may have wasted $336 million of its 2017 budget, according to a federal audit.
A Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Inspector General released a report indicating an eight-fold increase of improper or fraudulent payments in the program from 2016 to 2017.
The FCC’s IG conducted the investigation in response to a May 2017 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that found risks of fraud and wasted tax dollars in the Lifeline program. After the GAO report and a stricter 2017 audit, the Lifeline program was seen to have wasted nearly 22 percent, compared to less than three percent from the previous year.
Additionally, the GAO reported that 69 percent of Lifeline beneficiaries’ eligibility for the program had not been verified.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai responded with a proposal that primarily capped Lifeline spending at nearly $1.8 billion per year — an amount he said would be enough to cover all internet and landline access for eligible Americans. The proposal is rallying Democrats around Lifeline and against the chairman. read more
Buying votes.
I could use some things (lead, powder, brass, fuse) I wonder if the gov’t would get it for me?
We need to find out how many people got employed who had ever received an Obamaphone.
My guess is 90%+ are still on welfare.
“I won’t have to worry about putting gas in my car, I won’t have to worry about paying my mortgage. If I help him, he’s gonna help me.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg98BvqUvCc
Remember the original Obamaphone lady in Cleveland who was protesting a Romney rally and she gave that short but memorable interview on the side of the road? “Everybody in Cleveland [unintelligible] minority got Obamaphone…”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpAOwJvTOio
At that time, 2012, anyone listening to conservative radio heard that clip being played over and over. And one of the guys working for the Chris Plante radio show in DC was inspired to make a funny audio mash-up about the Obamaphone. It’s less than a minute long.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obrugoDjzIo
A WACKY LIBERAL PROGRAM LOST MONEY ? I AM SHOCKED
“Wasted” my ass.
It’s called “theft.”
And $336 Million is just a drop in the bucket of what’s being siphoned.
The whole point – the ENTIRE PURPOSE – of gov’t is to separate you from your money – and send it into the bank accounts of the supporters of the party in power.
Why do you think a “Constitutionalist” or a “Conservative” is so feared and reviled? Neither party can withstand a return to Constitutionalism. Adhering to the Constitution would shut off the spigot to the gravy train – and (probably) half the population lives off the other half and the coterie of rich who are ENTIRELY enriched off of the backs of the taxpayers (see Clinton, Obola, GM, ADM, Wall Street, Academia, et.al.) is substantially invested in keeping the political process polluted.
izlamo delenda est …
Maybe they can use their obamaphones whilst driving to those Shovel Ready jobs in their Cash for Clunkers automobiles.
Who had the Obamaphone contract? Carlos Slim – Mexico’s richest man and until Soros NYT’s biggest share holder.
Even Huffpo wrote about it.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/10/carlos-slim-obamaphones_n_1955929.html
If it says “Obama”, it’s got to be bad.
Well, but, it’s not the Obamaphone, it’s the Bush phone…or the Clinton phone…or the Reagan phone…or the Roosevelt phone… or the Wilson Phone lololol
https://www.obamaphone.com/started-obama-phone-program
the program goes all the way back to Reagan if i recall correctly. It should never have covered cell phones, less potential for abuse if it remains a land line. My son is fully disabled with TBI, and gets these flyers all the time to “give” him a cell phone.
There
Aint
No
Such
Thing
A
Free
Lunch
Somebody,Somewhere is going without to keep these leeches on line, and in touch.
They cant get a drivers License, but they and outsmart a smart phone, it adds up like common core math.