House Aides: USF Court Case Puts Millions at Risk

WASHINGTON, March 4, 2025 – In preparation for Wednesday’s hearing titled “Fixing Biden’s Broadband Blunder,” Republican staffers on the House Energy and Commerce Committee released a memo outlining the primary points of discussion, including the possibility of drastic Universal Service Fund changes.

GOP aides Kate Harper and John Lin on the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology warned that Congress must respond quickly should the Supreme Court find the Federal Communications Commission’s USF funding mechanism, which relies on taxes administered by a private company, unconstitutional. 

“If the Court finds the USF unconstitutional, Congress will need to address the delegation issue or rural broadband providers may no longer receive USF funding, meaning millions of Americans could lose service if they live in areas served by USF-supported providers,” the memo read.

The USF is primarily supported by fees on telecom providers’ interstate revenue. As of first quarter 2025, the tax, or contribution factor, had risen to 36.3 percent.

Harper and Lin explained in the memo that the high USF fee is “normally passed on to consumers as a USF fee line item on a phone bill, meaning that the typical subscriber to phone service today would see a staggering 36 percent fee on top of other service charges.”

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the case on March 26, 2025.

Included in the memo was a list of witnesses attending Wednesday’s hearing:

• Grant Spellmeyer, President and CEO, ACA Connects;
• Tim Donovan, President and CEO, Competitive Carriers Association;
• Greg Hale, CEO, LTC Connect; and
• Sarah Morris, Former Deputy Administrator, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (Acting)