Federal Communications Commission FCC 17-155
DISSENTING STATEMENT OF 
COMMISSIONER JESSICA ROSENWORCEL
Re: Bridging the Digital Divide for Low-Income Consumers, WC Docket No. 17-287; Lifeline and 
Link Up Reform and Modernizations, WC Docket No. 11-42; Telecommunications Carriers Eligible for 
Universal Service Support, WC Docket No. 09-197
The future belongs to the connected.  No matter who you are or where you live you need access 
to modern communications to have a fair shot at 21
st
century success.  But the fact of the matter is that 
today too many Americans lack access to broadband.
Last year, the FCC decided to do something about it.  It took a hard look at the Lifeline program, 
which got its start in 1985, when President Reagan was in the White House and nearly all 
communications involved a cord.  It updated this program—which was about helping low-income 
households secure access to telephony—and refocused it on broadband.  I think this was the right thing to 
do.  I think this was the modern thing to do.  That’s because Internet connections are the dial tone of the 
digital age.  
If you want an object lesson in why this is true, consider kids and homework.  Today, seven in ten 
teachers assign homework that requires broadband access.  But data from the FCC show that as many as 
one in three households do not subscribe to Internet service.  Where those numbers overlap is what I call 
the Homework Gap.  According to the Senate Joint Economic Committee, the Homework Gap is real.  By 
their estimate, it affects 12 million children across the country.  
Let me tell you what it looks like.  I have sat with students in Texas who do homework at fast 
food restaurants with fries—just to get a free Wi-Fi signal.  I have listened to students in Pennsylvania 
who make elaborate plans every day to head to the homes of friends and relatives just to be able to get 
online.  I have heard from high school football players in rural New Mexico who linger in the school 
parking lot after games in the pitch-black dark because it is the only place they can get a reliable 
connection.  These kids have grit.  But it shouldn’t be this hard.  Because today no child can be left 
offline—developing digital skills is flat-out essential for education and participation in the modern 
economy.  
You know what could help the Homework Gap?  The Lifeline program could help—if properly 
reformed and refocused on getting broadband to low-income households, including those with kids in 
school.  
But instead of thinking about the future and doing something modern, today the FCC sets out to 
slash it from front to back.  
Instead of honoring our statutory duty to support low-income consumers, we cast them aside and 
cuts them off. 
Instead of taking into account the millions of dollars that have already been spent on a new 
system of national verification to reduce waste, fraud, abuse, we discard its possibilities before we even 
begin.  
Instead of reviewing new in-depth audits, we toss them in the trash rather than use them to inform 
change.  
Instead of recognizing that there are Lifeline enrollees in Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico who are 
using the program to pull their lives back together after devastating storms, we seek to cut off their 
Internet and phone service.  
Federal Communications Commission FCC 17-155
2
Instead of consulting with Tribal authorities about changes to Lifeline that impact native 
communities, we hang up on the least connected.  
Instead of helping out the veterans who rely on Lifeline for jobs, health care, and reacclimating to 
civilian life, we turn them away.  
Instead of assisting the low-income elderly with access to modern communications, we deny 
them service.  
Instead of helping kids do their schoolwork and navigate the Homework Gap, we disconnect their 
signal.  We deny them a fair shot at future success.  
This is not real reform.  This is cruelty.  It is at odds with our statutory duty.  It will do little more 
than consign too many communities to the wrong side of the digital divide.
I dissent.