Weekly column: Is it time for the federal e-rate program to die? [econ]

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

http://news.com.com/Cheaper+phone+bills+on+the+horizon/2010-1071_3-5626169.html

Cheaper phone bills on the horizon?
March 21, 2005, 4:00 AM PT
By Declan McCullagh

Don't get too excited yet, but there's a chance your monthly telephone 
bill will get a few dollars cheaper.

Some members of Congress have begun speculating whether a government 
entitlement program riddled with waste and corruption and funded by 
taxes on telecommunications companies should be terminated. If the 
so-called E-rate program ended, the average phone bill would drop by $10 
or more a year, an annual total of $2.25 billion.

Rep. Joe Barton, chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, 
suggested at a hearing last week that the E-rate program had become a 
billion-dollar boondoggle. "This committee has no choice but to develop 
legislation to scrap the status quo and apply some common sense to the 
E-rate program," the Texas Republican said.

[...remainder snipped...]
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