BROADCASTS.com

Congressional reps, in their\xa0annual pique over the abuses of a couple of wireless companies, are attempting to once again throw out the broadband baby with the water of a corrupted few. Atty. Anthony Veach, from telecom industry\xa0law firm\xa0Bennet & Bennet PLLC\xa0joins us to discuss House bill 5376's\xa0threat to broadband usage in underserved communities.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\n\nVeach describes how the\xa0current FCC\xa0has made reforming its telecom\xa0industry-funded Lifeline grant program a priority, and discusses whether\xa0Congress's action threatens rather than helps create meaningful changes.\xa0Lifeline\xa0originally funded basic telephone service for low-income\xa0urban and rural\xa0households so no\xa0citizens would be economically forced to do without phone service. The Bush Administration\xa0expanded Lifeline to include wireless phone service as this was quickly displacing landlines.\xa0As smartphones become a primary device for accessing broadband, particularly in communities of color, Congress' action threatens to hit them particularly hard.\n\nListeners get an inside peek at Lifeline\xa0reforms to date, and what additional reforms are in the works. They also pick up\xa0some valuable insights into the Lifeline program, its main accomplishments over the years and\xa0some of the challenges the program faces as it tries to keep pace with technology changes not envisioned by Lifeline's original architects.