Federal Communications Commission	"FCC  XX-XXX"


STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER JESSICA ROSENWORCEL

Re: 	TracFone Wireless, Inc., File No.: EB-IHD-18-00027738.

When companies violate the rules of the Lifeline program, we need to make clear that there are consequences.  With this Notice of Apparent Liability we do just that because we seek to hold accountable a company that appears to have violated our rules.  As the enforcement process proceeds, it is imperative that we get to the bottom of what transpired here in order to make sure that it does not happen again.
But it is time to have a bigger conversation about Lifeline.  There is a pandemic that is wreaking havoc on our health, our economy and our collective well-being.  The news is dizzying.  Last week, it was announced that 3.3 million people filed unemployment claims.  That’s a record.  As the coronavirus places new strains on our economy and households across the country, we need to make sure that no one is left behind when it comes to communications.  So we have an opportunity to lead with our humanity when it comes to Lifeline.  We should seize it.  We need to abandon the FCC’s cruel policy proposals to cut off and restrict Lifeline and instead see how we can modernize the program and extend its reach.  The FCC has done so before in the face of crisis.  I hope that history will remember us for doing so again. 

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