The FCC voted yesterday to expand the program that subsidizes Obama phones phone service by including internet access and broadband.
Not surprisingly, Republicans have a problem with this.
Representative Austin Scott (R-GA) has introduced a bill that would severely limit the FCC's budget for actually providing those subsidies to low-income families.
In a 3-2 decision, The FCC voted to allow the monthly subsidies to be used for the first time to pay for Internet service instead of just for basic phone service. [...]
As it stands, the FCC proposal approved Thursday includes a $2.25 billion “budget mechanism.” If spending neared that $2.25 level, the FCC would be prompted to act. But Republicans said the cap could easily be exceeded if the FCC votes to increase it or simply do nothing.
The FCC voted to approve the program with a budget of $2.25 billion but Representative Scott's bill would cap the program's budget at $1.5 billion. For reasons.
Republicans are concerned that the cost of the program will exceed its budget, and that is certainly a possibility, but their solution is not to find a way to cope with increased costs; their solution is to reduce the budget. Because that makes sense, right?
The good news is Rep. Scott's bill is dead on arrival if it ever reaches the president's desk.