Over the weekend, Auburn University’s student body elected Molly Anne Dutton the school’s 100th Miss Homecoming, and boy what a story this young woman has to tell.
A couple of decades ago, Dutton’s biological mother, who was living in California at the time, was the victim of a sexual assault that resulted in her becoming pregnant. She was given an ultimatum by her husband: either abort the baby, or face divorce.
Lifeline Children’s Services, a Birmingham-based Christian adoption agency, got involved and helped the woman through her courageous decision to keep the baby and put her up for adoption instead of aborting.
This past weekend, the little girl born into those tough circumstances was elected her university’s homecoming queen after running on a platform entirely devoted to adoption advocacy.
[READ: Auburn Student Body named Most Conservative in the Nation].
“Because that resource was made available to my mother, she decided to give birth to me,” Dutton said. “And here I am talking to you guys 22 years later.”
“Light Up LIFE” was Dutton’s slogan, the perfect summation of her campaign’s goal to spread the word that adoption can bring light into a dark situation. It took Auburn’s campus by storm.
On a related note, Lifeline’s 11th annual fundraising dinner is coming up Nov. 7 in Birmingham. Team Yellowhammer will be there in full force and would love to have you join us. This is a no-brainer cause to get behind. Check out Lifeline’s website for more information.
Follow Cliff on Twitter @Cliff_Sims
Senator Jeff Sessions, R-Mobile, and Rep. Martha Roby, R-Montgomery, are asking some pointed questions about the so-called “Obamaphone” program (known officially as “LifeLine”) that provides free cell phones to millions of Americans at a cost to taxpayers of over $9 billion a year.
Jon Paepcke of Birmingham television station WVTM revealed in an investigative report earlier this week that over 200,000 Alabamians are currently enrolled in the program. That equates to roughly 1 out of every 23 citizens of the state.
The Federal Communications Commission says it “requires that subscribers prove eligibility at the time of enrollment” upon penalty of perjury. But it is the cell phone providers who are charged with informing consumers about the rules and making sure they comply. Critics of the program believe that creates a clear conflict of interest. Providers make more money when more people signup to receive a phone, yet they are also the ones expected to keep potential abusers out of the program.
Some cell phone companies are aggressively pushing these cell phones to anyone, regardless of need, and are raking in record profits. (see some of their advertising tactics below)
Sen. Sessions recently sent a letter to the FCC asking a series of oversight questions regarding the program.
“The failure to check applicants’ eligibility might be one of the reasons the Lifeline program has more than doubled in recent years — from $822 million in 2008 to over $2 billion in the latest annual report,” Sessions said in the letter to FCC Acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn. “These public concerns must be addressed.”
Rep. Martha Roby, R-Montgomery, also sent a letter to the FCC in March of this year asking about the program. One of Roby’s primary concerns was the fact that LifeLine eligibility is based on participation in other federal welfare programs, such as food stamps.
Roby asked the FCC to disclose how many LifeLine participants are also participating in other welfare programs. But in their response, the FCC indicated they are not keeping track of that information. They also reiterated that it is the cell phone providers who are responsible for assessing LifeLine applicants’ eligibility.
“You had asked in your letter about the number of Lifeline customers that receive Lifeline wireless services as a result of their participation in certain federal programs,” an FCC representative wrote to Roby. “The Commission does not collect such information, as it is the responsibility of the Lifeline service providers to ensure that potential customers are eligible for Lifeline based on either their income level or their participation in one of the designated federal assistance programs.”
Roby told Yellowhammer today that the program is clearly being abused and has grown well outside of its initially intended purpose.
“One job I take very seriously in Congress is looking for and exposing instances of waste, fraud, and abuse within the government,” Roby said. “This is a clear example of a once well-intended program that is being abused, and the agency in charge can’t seem to answer basic questions about just how pervasive the problem is. The fox is guarding the hen house while the Obama Administration looks the other way.”
Roby has signed on to be a co-sponsor of a bill to return the program to its original purview: ensuring truly needy Americans have access to telephone service.
Some of the advertisements being used to promote the taxpayer funded cell phone program can be seen below.
Hundreds of thousands of Alabamians have jumped on board a federal program allowing them to get a free cell phone paid for by taxpayer dollars, some even getting more than one phone.
According to a recent report by WVTM in Birmingham, 211,519 Alabamians currently have a taxpayer funded phone through a program called “Lifeline.” That equates to 1 in every 23 people in the state.
Tax funded cell phones, now commonly referred to as “Obama phones,” were a hot topic during the 2012 presidential election. The program became a symbol for many taxpayers of government gone wild. But the blame may not entirely be on President Obama, according to Darrell Baker of the Alabama Public Service Commission.
Baker told WVTM that the Lifeline program was started in the ’80’s under Ronald Reagan, but was originally created to provide landline phones to individuals in great need. Cell phones were then added to the program in 2008 while President Bush was in office.
In order to qualify to receive a phone, recipients only need to be receiving aide from federal programs like Social Security, Medicaid, Section 8, or food stamps.
But oversight of the program has been a significant issue. When cell phones were added to Lifeline, no documentation was required to prove eligibility. If someone applied for the program, they were mostly taken at their word that they qualified. As a result, thousands upon thousands of individuals have abused the program in order to receive a free cell phone.
The FCC audited the Lifeline program and found that 34,250 Alabama households had more than one free phone, at an additional cost to Alabama taxpayers of $3.6 million. Subscribers with more than one phone have reportedly since been removed from the program’s roll.
Changes made to the program after the audit resulted in the application process requiring documentation. Individuals who are approved for the program also now have to renew their certification each year, and a database is expected to be running by the end of 2013 to completely cutout households having more than one federally funded phone.
“We take abuse of our rules seriously and are acting aggressively to enforce them in order to preserve this program for the less fortunate among us who rely on Lifeline to reach emergency service, jobs, and loved ones,” FCC spokesperson Mark Wigfield told WVTM.
The federal program shows up on your phone bill under surcharges as “Federal Universal Service Charge.”
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