Cellphone subsidies block fails in House

by David McCabe - 06/21/16 7:32 PM ET

The House failed to pass a bill on Tuesday that would block federal subsidies from paying for cellphone service for low-income people.

The bill, called the End Taxpayer Funded Cell Phones Act, failed to pass under suspension of the rules, 207-143.

{mosads}Suspension bills must get a two-thirds majority to pass. They are generally only brought to the floor when the House’s Republican leaders believe they will succeed.

The bill also did not receive a simple majority of House members.

The bill would have made it impossible for wireless carriers to receive the Federal Communications Commission’s Lifeline subsidies to provide either voice or internet service to low-income people.

Conservatives have long criticized the program, sometimes referring to it derisively as “ObamaPhones” even though it originated before President Obama took office. They paint is as a system of handouts that is victim to waste and abuse.

The criticism hasn’t stopped Democrats from working to expand it. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler recently successfully expanded the subsidies to cover both mobile and wired broadband service.

Tuesday’s bill was unlikely to pass, since Democrats oppose measures that would weaken the program. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (N.J.), the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, expressed “strong opposition” to the proposal.

So did the wireless industry’s Washington trade association, which said it was unfair for the companies to keep paying into the program’s funding source if they weren’t allowed to receive Lifeline subsidies.

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