The California Democrat says the Trump administration is putting corporate interests before public interests.
Rep. Rohit “Ro” Khanna, D-California, on Tuesday criticized Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai for putting corporate interests ahead of the public when it comes to internet access, PTI reported.
Khanna criticized the newly appointed Indian American FCC chairman’s decision to revoke Lifeline Broadband Provider status to nine companies. The congressman said that these companies provided broadband access to low-income households and its suspension is another example of the Trump administration’s preference to corporate interest ahead of that of the public.
“This decision undercuts the companies’ ability to provide low-cost Internet access to low-income Americans and is just the most recent example of the Trump administration taking action that impacts our nation’s most vulnerable,” Khanna said on the House floor, PTI reported.
“He is writing the rules of modern day capitalism in a way that privileges these elite telecom companies, with concentrated economic power, at the expense of low income Americans,” Khanna said.
The California Democrat also asked other members of Congress to join him on the issue and circulated a letter.
“It should be easier for low-income families to must stand united to make sure an unelected bureaucrat doesn’t get to write the rules of our economy in favour of wealthy interests at the expense of ordinary Americans,” he added.
Pai defended his decision in a blog post and said that it is being negatively portrayed in the news media.
“Some have asked why the agency’s Wireline Competition Bureau issued an order reconsidering nine companies’ eligibility to participate in the Lifeline program, which aims to help make voice and broadband more affordable to low-income Americans. It’s vital that low-income Americans have access to communications services, including broadband Internet, which Lifeline helps to achieve,” he wrote.
“Hyperbolic headlines always attract more attention than mundane truths. For example, a story detailing how the FCC undertaking further review of the eligibility of 1% of Lifeline providers wouldn’t generate too many clicks. That’s long been the case in policy debates, of course. But at the end of the day, my focus has been – and will continue to be so long as I have the privilege of serving as the chairman of the FCC – doing everything within the FCC’s power to close the digital divide,” Pai added.