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The law only permits one subsidy per household. Those in U. Despite its moniker, it was actually created under President Ronald Reagan in to subsidize phone service. Under the administration of George W. Bush, it was expanded to cover wireless service. The program has no shortage of critics among government waste watchdogs, who see Lifeline as a symbol of an overweening federal government. Still, others insist the program is vital for needy communities who wouldn't have phone access otherwise.

Lifeline recipients "by definition are very poor" and they don't have access to other telecommunication services, said Ken McEldowney, executive director of the Consumer Action advocacy group. This program was started earlier this year. The very foundations that this country was built on are being shaken. The age-old concepts of God, family, and hard work have flown out the window and are being replaced with "Hope and Change" and "Change we can believe in. Welfare recipients, and others, can receive a free cell phone, but the program is not funded by the government or taxpayer money, as the e-mail alleges.

How It Works. Applicants have to apply and prove that they are either receiving certain types of government benefits, such as Medicaid, or have household incomes at or below percent of the poverty line. Nor is it paid for with "tax payer money," as the e-mail claims. Rather, it is funded through the Universal Service Fund, which is administered by the Universal Service Administrative Company , an independent, not-for-profit corporation set up by the Federal Communications Commission.

So, yes, citizens of various federal programs could qualify for a cellphone — a basic one, not the latest iPhone or Galaxy — with a plan they receive under Lifeline. The program has come back into the news in recent days, principally on conservative sites, because of a Government Accountability Office study of Lifeline, one of four FCC programs funded by the Universal Service Fund.

In my interview, Bagdoyan says even his team of forensic auditors could not find the misty origins of this arrangement. Now the FCC has a plan to migrate the fund to a Treasury account, where it belongs. The agency tries to oversee a complicated, multi-tier arrangement consisting of carriers, Lifeline contractors, and call centers. It all adds up to the impossibility of knowing how much fraud and abuse occurs.

Sorting this out is a long-term challenge for FCC. There must be money in the Lifeline program. Even Virgin Mobile — the Virgin that has the airline and the hotels — has a Lifeline subsidiary. It actually calls itself Obamaphone.

Somewhere on its site this company does acknowledge the term is slang, not an FCC designation. Read more: Tom Temin Commentary. Tom Temin is host of the Federal Drive and has been providing insight on federal technology and management issues for more than 30 years.

Follow tteminWFED. Listen Live Schedule Sports. Artificial Intelligence. Ask the CIO. Big Data. The Act was not taxpayer funded… exactly. Taxpayers do pay for coverage but not via federal income taxes. Instead, the Act "mandated the creation of the universal service fund USF into which all telecommunications providers are required to contribute a percentage of their interstate and international end-user telecommunications revenues. That's what you're paying for. As you can imagine, not every one supports this idea.

And yes, there has been abuse - you can read about efforts to curb abuse here downloads as a pdf. As a result, there is a bill in place to put an end to the practice. The bill, H. The bill now has 11 more co-sponsors, four of which joined this month. And since I know you're wondering: none of the co-sponsors are from Cleveland - or from Ohio.

All of them are Republican. The purpose of the bill, as stated is: "To prohibit universal service support of commercial mobile service through the Lifeline program. The bill now sits in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce where it was referred to the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology last year. I predicted earlier this year that it would sit awhile and viral video or no, I suspect it will continue to sit.