WASHINGTON — On Thursday, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler circulated a proposal to reform the $1.7 billion Lifeline program to ensure that Americans in low-income communities can afford access to high-speed Internet services.

The program, instituted during the second Reagan administration, was originally designed to offer affordable access to telephone services. The chairman's proposal shifts that emphasis to broadband access, calling it "essential for access to education and information, for managing and receiving health care, for daily tasks like accessing government services, checking bank balances, finding bargains on goods and services, and more."

Free Press Policy Counsel Lauren Wilson made the following statement:

"The FCC is right to ask how it can modernize its low-income telephone-subsidy program to reflect the central role the Internet plays in our daily lives. For 30 years, our nation’s most vulnerable communities have relied on Lifeline to connect with loved ones, access medical care and seek job opportunities. Today, participating meaningfully in our society and economy means getting online. Internet access must not be reserved only for those who can afford the high prices charged by cable and telephone giants.

"But getting all Americans online isn’t a challenge just one agency can address. Policymakers at every level — from the White House and Congress to local school boards — need to explore the most effective and efficient ways to connect people, and especially those in disadvantaged communities.

"While the FCC’s Lifeline program is one way to help make universal access a reality, we need to clear away other obstacles to closing the digital divide — without placing too much of the financial burden of paying for those efforts on the very same communities intended to benefit from them.

“Access to high-speed services isn't a luxury. It's a proven and essential catalyst for economic growth, increased political participation and other social benefits that should be available to everyone. But we also need to ensure that Universal Service Fund benefits flow to users, not just the bottom lines of the few phone and cable companies that dominate U.S. broadband access. We need to prioritize the people stuck on the wrong side of the digital divide and create policy solutions that serve them first."