FCC Chief Brendan Carr Moves to Curb Fraud as Agency Program Subsidized Phone, Internet Service for 116,000 Dead Peoplehttps://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/01/27/fcc-chief-brendan-carr-moves-curb-fraud-as-agency-program-subsidized-phone-internet-service-116000-dead-people/Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr announced Tuesday that the agency will vote next month on proposals to remove fraud from the Lifeline program, which provided taxpayer dollars to pay for phone and internet services for more than 116,000 dead people.
“If the government is going to spend your hard earned dollars, it must ensure that they go only to living and lawful Americans,” Carr wrote on X.
Carr’s announcement followed a report from the Federal Communications Commission Office of Inspector General (FCC OIG), which found startling levels of fraud in the program. Congress and the FCC established the Lifeline program to help low-income Americans receive affordable communications service, which may include voice and broadband services and is paid out of the Universal Service Fund (USF).
The fraud includes “at least 16,774, and potentially as many as 39,362, deceased people, [who] were first enrolled and then claimed by a provider after they died (i.e. they were deceased at the time of enrollment.)”
1. A new Inspector General advisory found that providers took nearly $5 million in federal dollars to provide phone and Internet service to over 116,000 dead people. And this IG advisory looked at just three states.
2. Gavin Newsom’s California was by far the worst offender of these opt-out states. On Governor Newsom’s watch, California allowed over 94,000 dead people to be used to obtain federal dollars for phone and Internet service. The FCC recently revoked California’s authority to run its own verification process.
My emphasis. BTW, the Lifeline program was started in 1985, so while the program probably includes "Obama Phones", it may include other services. I'm curious who the other two states looked at were. My WAG is that they were not NY, IL, OR, WA, and CO
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