For decades, there has been broad, bipartisan support for the Universal Service Fund and the FCC programs that help communications reach low-income households and the most rural and least-connected communities in the United States. A Supreme Court decision that undermines or unravels existing universal service programs would most likely require Congress to take action to continue to promote the availability and affordability of critical communications services for millions of rural and low-income consumers, rural health care facilities, and schools and libraries across the nation.
"The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Friday to review whether fees collected to support the Federal Communications Commission's array of telecom subsidy programs for low-income consumers, schools and rural healthcare run afoul of constitutional limits on taxing authority. Justices said they will consider legal challenges to the FCC's Universal Service Fund, a system in place since the 1990s that imposes fees on telecom companies, which they typically pass on to consumers, to pay for subsidized phone and broadband services."
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