Originally Posted by cmbdiesel

...and you were the one who posted that anecdote as proof that Obama is responsible.

My suggestion is that your friend is uninformed, despite being a recipient, and you are one step further removed.

It may well be that people getting these phones believe Obama is responsible, and there may be people telling them as much....


Who Pays for the Lifeline Program?

All telecommunications service providers and certain other providers of telecommunications must contribute to the federal USF based on a percentage of their end-user telecommunications revenues. These companies include wireline telephone companies, wireless telephone companies, and certain Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) providers.

Some consumers may notice a “Universal Service” line item on their telephone bills. This line item appears when a company chooses to recover its USF contributions directly from its customers by billing them this charge. The FCC does not require this charge to be passed on to customers. Each company makes a business decision about whether and how to assess charges to recover its Universal Service costs.

Lifeline: Affordable Telephone Service for Income-Eligible Consumers | FCC.gov