The Federal Communications Commission is moving to overhaul the government's nearly $1 billion Lifeline program after an internal audit found widespread fraud, with California responsible for the vast majority of the abuse.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced that the commission will vote this month on sweeping reforms aimed at tightening eligibility, preventing fraud, and ensuring taxpayer dollars go only to legal and eligible recipients.
The move follows an Inspector General advisory showing Lifeline providers received nearly $5 million in federal funds to supply phone and internet services to more than 116,000 deceased individuals.
More than 80% of that fraud occurred in California.
The Lifeline program, created in the 1980s and funded through the FCC's Universal Service Fund, subsidizes phone and broadband service for low-income Americans.
Consumers ultimately pay for the program through surcharges on their monthly phone and internet bills.
According to the inspector general, California, which had been allowed to opt out of the federal eligibility verification system, accounted for nearly 95,000 of the deceased enrollees identified in the audit.
Texas and Oregon, the only other opt-out states, accounted for far fewer cases.
"Only beneficiaries that are both living and here legally should qualify for benefits under this program," Carr said in his Jan. 27 statement.
"But the data shows that this is not the case. Over 80% of those scams took place in California alone. That type of waste, fraud, and abuse is completely unacceptable."
The audit also found extensive duplicate enrollments, with the same individuals claimed multiple times in the same month across different states using identical names, birth dates, and Social Security numbers.
From late 2020 through 2025, providers were paid more than $5.5 million for these duplicate claims.
In November, the FCC revoked California's opt-out status and required the state to comply with the same federal verification process used by nearly every other state.
That decision was bolstered by the audit's findings, which showed California enrolled thousands of individuals after they had died.
The crackdown has sparked a political fight with Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose administration accused the FCC of unfairly targeting California. But the audit data tells a different story.
Carr pointed to a California law signed by Newsom last year that eliminated the requirement that Lifeline applicants provide a Social Security number — a move critics say opened the door for illegal immigrants to access federal benefits while blocking federal oversight.
"There has been a sharp rise in non-citizens fraudulently obtaining Social Security numbers," Carr warned, noting that more than 2 million were illegally assigned in 2024 alone.
The FCC will vote Feb. 18 on proposed reforms that would restrict Lifeline benefits to U.S. citizens and qualified legal immigrants, enhance verification requirements, crack down on provider misconduct, and potentially bar states from opting out of federal oversight altogether.
"Your hard-earned dollars should only be going to those households Congress intended to benefit," Carr said.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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