Memo to the FCC: End, don’t expand, Obamaphone program

The Federal Communications Commission's Lifeline program, intended to offer low-income people access to basic telephone services, has become notorious for its waste, fraud, abuse and lack of strategic planning and oversight. So, naturally, the FCC recently voted 3-2 to expand the program to provide subsidized broadband service.

Though the Lifeline program was established by the FCC in 1985, it really took off after prepaid wireless carriers began offering wireless Lifeline service in 2008, along with free cellphones, prompting it to be dubbed the "Obamaphone" program. From 2008-12, enrollment soared from 6.8 million households to 18.1 million, and the cost of the program, which does not have a cap on spending, rose 167 percent, from $820 million to $2.2 billion.