Former FCC Commissioner O’Rielly Working on USF ‘Patch’

WASHINGTON, Jan. 27, 2025 – Some people in Washington have a Plan B in case the Federal Communications Commission’s Universal Service Fund is ruled unlawful.

Former Republican FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly (2013-2020) said he is involved in an effort to keep the agency’s $8.1 billion Universal Service Fund operating in the event the Supreme Court rules later this year that the program's funding mechanism is unconstitutional. 

In a Jan. 23 interview with Bloomberg’s Matt Schettenhelm, O’Rielly said, “We're going to see how oral arguments go and what the Supreme Court does over this case. I'm working on an effort to help have a Congressional patch. So if the court goes in one direction, all things aren't thrown up in the air [and] we actually have some kind of universal service system, because it has many benefits to it, even if it's got its warts.”