Obama phone (or not)

There are a lot of rumors going around about Obama giving poor people a cell phone and talk time at taxpayer expense. This rumor is not true and it would be unconstitutional (like several other welfare programs that exist unconstitutionally). It is true that if you meet certain income requirements you can get a free cell phone and time to conduct your drug deals whatever. The program is funded by all telecommunication companies that provide interstate service. The legislation does not specify how those companies fund their contributions, although most of them pass it on openly in your bill as Universal Coverage Fee. Because the fee is not a personal tax and only interstate companies are required to pay, Congress has the authority to collect it. Speaking of Congress, it was the Republican controlled legislature in 1996 that effectively caused the current system to be giving phones to drug dealers people. In 2004, under the Republicans, the program was expanded to give service to another 1.25 million drug dealers people.If Democrats want to call Republicans cold-hearted for opposing the program now, they should look first at who started it. If Republicans want to call Democrats wasteful for giving phones to drug dealers poor people, they too should look at who started it. Nothing about the program is new this year except that some forms for telecommunication companies have been made available online. The recent uproar seems to stem from Trac-phone’s participation in the program and advertising campaign. Remember, just because an ad says new doesn’t mean it is new.

AX

This entry was posted on 10/26/09 at 21:03 and is filed under Amendment X. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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