Dialing up the truth

Mr. Rand Thompson’s letter juxtaposing Geiger’s work force reduction to a supposed Barack Obama-instituted “free cell phones to low-income families” plan deserves the interdiction of the facts. The writer is more interested in bashing Obama than expressing the truth about the program’s origin. The nonpartisan Politifact.com’s Truth-O-Meter and other sources report that this program is decades old and originated with the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which amended the Communications Act of 1934 to require low-income assistance.

The site notes that the “law required the FCC to create the Universal Service Fund, a pool of money subsidized by small charges” on phone bills that is “redistributed to the low-income service programs as well as programs that bring telecommunications services to rural areas and schools. And the LifeLine program has been around even longer – since 1985.”

Thompson “mischaracterizes the program by making it seem as if it was created by the Obama administration. In fact, Lifeline and Link-Up, the two original participants, have been around for a while. These are not ‘Obama phones.’ ”

Thompson asks, “Am I wrong?” Yes, you are.

David S. Hagerty

Spokane