Summary
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case challenging the legality of the FCC’s Universal Service Fund, which raises $9 billion annually to expand phone and internet access.
The 5th Circuit Court previously ruled the fund unconstitutional.
It held that Congress improperly delegated legislative power to the FCC and that the FCC unlawfully transferred authority to a private company, the Universal Service Administrative Company.
The FCC defends the fund as lawful, citing congressional authorization. A decision is expected by June, amid heightened scrutiny of federal agency powers.
I believe it’s more than half a trillion total at this point. We were supposed to have nationwide fiber since the 90s and we still mostly don’t have the country covered. WTF did they do with all that money?
It was invested in “emerging markets”… i.e. South American countries.Can’t find a source, so I’ll retract my statement:
Here are some articles talking about high level overview:
https://www.mackinac.org/blog/2024/why-government-funded-internet-isnt-happening-again
https://nationaleconomicseditorial.com/2017/11/27/americans-fiber-optic-internet/
https://www.washingtonpolicy.org/publications/detail/the-42-billion-internet-program-that-has-connected-0-people
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-book-of-broken-promis_b_5839394
I’ll see if I can find the sources, I’ve not looked at them in a while.
Paid themselves to “look into it” then expanded to one more house than before.