OPINION:
Washington has a familiar playbook when an outdated federal program runs into trouble: Rather than fixing what’s broken, it just finds someone new to pay for it.
That is the danger Congress faces today with the Federal Communications Commission’s Universal Service Fund.
For nearly three decades, USF has helped connect rural communities, low-income Americans, schools, libraries and rural healthcare providers. Those are important goals. However, the communications marketplace — and the federal government’s role in broadband — has changed dramatically since Congress created the modern fund in 1996.
USF has long been funded by a surcharge on old-school long-distance phone service — a melting ice cube in today’s world of email, chat apps and video calls.
Meanwhile, federal support for broadband connectivity has ballooned to more than 130 federal programs across 15 agencies.
In the past five years alone, Congress has committed tens of billions of dollars to new initiatives to wire schools, hospitals and unconnected rural areas — most notably through the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program.
Yet rather than first asking what role remains for USF to play in this radically changed landscape, some in Washington would prefer to take the easy way out and “fix” USF’s funding squeeze by adding a new tax to every American family’s monthly broadband bill.
That would get reform backward.
When I chaired the House Energy and Commerce Committee, I repeatedly argued that USF reform needs to start with a hard look at what needs remain after the recent taxpayer-funded flood of broadband spending. Which USF programs are still necessary? Where are taxpayers paying twice for the same goals? And where are waste, fraud or abuse driving unnecessary costs?
Only after answering those questions can Congress decide how much money USF actually needs and how to raise it.
The Trump administration is now taking an important step in the right direction. In August, the FCC launched a top-to-bottom review of how USF is administered, examining oversight, operating costs, audits and whether Americans are getting the best value for the billions of dollars spent each year.
Congress should build on that effort, not undermine it by rushing to increase American families’ monthly bills before the review is complete.
Also in August, a broad coalition of conservative organizations delivered the same message to Congress, urging lawmakers to reassess and reform a fundamentally outdated program rather than “simply raising taxes to meet future shortfalls.” That is exactly right.
Taxing broadband would not make USF’s underlying problems disappear. It would simply send the bill to American families.
That bill could be substantial. The FCC has previously estimated that taxing broadband service to fund USF could add anywhere from $5 to $18 per month to consumers’ internet bills. This should be a nonstarter for every Republican who has spent the past several years fighting inflation and rising household costs.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has long been one of the strongest voices warning against this approach. As a commissioner, he cautioned that extending USF assessments to broadband would inevitably raise consumer prices and concluded that “the squeeze is not worth the juice.”
He was right.
Policymakers in both parties have spent years trying to make broadband more widely available and affordable. If our goal is universal connectivity, then deliberately making broadband more expensive is a strange way to achieve it.
Mr. Trump has consistently emphasized that America’s economic and technological ambitions should not come at the expense of working families. Congress should apply the same principle to broadband.
Before asking Americans for another dollar, Congress should streamline outdated programs, eliminate duplication, strengthen eligibility and oversight, root out waste and abuse, and determine which public policy needs we still need USF to address.
Only then should lawmakers decide how to pay for it. Adding a new broadband tax on every American’s monthly bill is about the worst option imaginable.
Republicans have an opportunity to reform universal service in a way that protects both connectivity and taxpayers. We should take it.
Fix the program first. Protect consumers. And do not turn American families’ internet bills into Washington’s next tax base.
• Cathy McMorris Rodgers served as a member of Congress from 2005 to 2025. She chaired the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
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