Look whose back wasting billion: Obama's cellphone program rife with fraud

A government program in Denver, Colorado, to provide free cellphones and service to the poor has been revealed to be full of waste, fraud and abuse.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The $2 billion yearly Lifeline program was investigated by a local CBS affiliate, and provided more than 13 million cellphone plans across the country in the first six months of this year.

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In Colorado alone the program gave out 117,000 free cellphone plans, about 20,000 phones every month.

The Lifeline wireless program was started in 2005 under President George W. Bush, but it saw a massive increase under President Obama.

The phones and accompanying wireless plans are paid for by the Universal Service Tax, a monthly tax on your cellphone.

To qualify in the program, an individual must be on food stamps, Medicaid, housing assistance or another low-income supporting government program. The plan is intended to give these valuable phones to those who normally could not afford them in order to look for jobs, call emergency services or keep in touch with family.

But, the news team found that these strict guidelines are actually outright ignored by those tasked with handing out the phones.

"Want to sign up for a free phone?" One of the agents tasked with handing out the phones asked a member of the news team, after that the agent asked if the undercover reporter had a food stamp card or a Medicaid card.

When the reporter answered no, the agent pushed it through anyways, using someone else's food stamp card. The agent then revealed that he received $3 for every phone he gave out.

"Lifeline providers may not activate service for a consumer unless that consumer is eligible for the program and provides proof of eligibility," said Mark Wigfield, the Deputy Director of media relations at the FCC-the organization that oversees the Lifeline program.

"Lifeline rules are enforceable rules and punishable by fines and other means."

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