Supreme Court Upholds FCC's $8.6 Billion Telecom Subsidy Fund
The US Supreme Court upheld the $8.6 billion Universal Service Fund, the annual slate of subsidies that helps cover the cost of telecom services for low-income people, rural residents, schools and libraries.
Voting 6-3, the justices rejected contentions that Congress unconstitutionally handed off its taxing powers when it set up the program in 1976. The fund uses a charge imposed on monthly phone bills – in an amount determined by the Federal Communications Commission – to subsidize service for more than 8 million people.
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