The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday voted to expand its Lifeline subsidy program to cover part of the cost of high speed Internet access to low-income Americans households. Photo: Mark Van Scyoc / ShutterStock

WASHINGTON, June 18 (UPI) -- The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday voted in favor of covering broadband Internet access for low-income households with a telephone subsidy program it has offered for 30 years.

Three of the five members of the FCC voted in favor of reforming the program, called Lifeline, to include web access.


Established in 1985, the Lifeline program has provided qualifying low-income Americans with a $9.25 per month subsidy toward phone service. Thursday's vote favors expanding it to include broadband Internet, although the final structure of what that may look like is yet to be determined.

Expanding the program still needs further government approval, where there is opposition to the expansion proposal. Some critics believe the $2 billion-per-year Lifeline program is already rife with abuses and fraud -- and that the existing program should be fixed before it should be expanded, CNBC reported Thursday.

"We still have a long way to go if we are going to fix this program," Republican Commissioner Ajit Pai said in a report by the Hill. "Waste fraud and abuse are still rampant."

In a news release Thursday, however, the FCC indicated that abuses of Lifeline have largely been eliminated and that further reforms are being developed to make sure the program is helping the people it's designed to help.

"It is time for a fundamental, comprehensive restructuring of the program to meet today's most pressing communications needs: access to broadband," the FCC said in a statement. "Broadband has become essential to participation in modern society, offering access to jobs, education, health care, government services and opportunity. Unfortunately, income remains a significant barrier to broadband adoption."

The FCC noted that nearly half of all U.S. households with incomes under $25,000 per year do not have broadband Internet access.

Lifeline was established by former President Ronald Reagan and has been expanded in the past to include mobile phone service.