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Lawmakers Quiz Agency on Internet Program

Posted on: Thursday, 13 March 2003, 06:00 CST

Lawmakers Quiz Agency on Internet Program

Source: Associated Press Tech News

Two Republican lawmakers asked the nation's top communications regulator Thursday to explain what his agency is doing to prevent fraud in a $2.25 billion program that helps connect schools and libraries to the Internet.

Reps. Billy Tauzin, R-La., and James Greenwood, R-Pa., want the Federal Communications Commission to turn over documents on the operation and oversight of the "e-rate" program. Tauzin is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and Greenwood heads that committee's oversight and investigations subcommittee.

"We write because of the potential size of waste, fraud and abuse in this program," the lawmakers said in a letter to FCC Chairman Michael Powell.

FCC spokesman Michael Balmoris said the agency had no immediate comment on the letter.

The e-rate program is part of a government effort to underwrite communications services for rural areas and the poor by charging phone companies. Most carriers recover these costs by billing customers a line-item charge for "universal service" on monthly statements.

Up to $2.25 billion is available from the fund each year to provide schools and libraries with discounts for Internet and other communications connections.

Tauzin and Greenwood said there are at least 30 federal and state investigations involving the use of e-rate funds. They said congressional auditors and the FCC's own internal investigations have raised concerns that there is not enough oversight of the program.

"The emerging evidence of fraud and abuse around the country may be just the tip of the iceberg," the lawmakers said.

In a September 2002 report from the FCC's inspector general, investigators said that because of a lack of funding to watch over the program they were unable to give "any level of assurance that the program is protected from fraud, waste and abuse."

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