Digital Inclusion

Justice Department Advises FCC to Strengthen Lifeline Verification

Opinion arrives as FCC reviews changes to enrollment procedures, including federal database checks.

Jericho Casper

Jericho Casper

— 3 min read
Justice Department Advises FCC to Strengthen Lifeline Verification
Photo of T. Elliot Gaiser, Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice by Pete Kiehart/Bloomberg Law.

WASHINGTON, June 1, 2026 – The Federal Communications Commission was advised Thursday to impose additional safeguards when verifying eligibility for Lifeline subsidies.

In a legal opinion, Assistant Attorney General T. Elliot Gaiser concluded the program’s current enrollment process does not adequately verify immigration status and that compliance with a 1996 federal welfare law requires additional safeguards beyond collecting a subscriber's Social Security number.

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Digital Inclusion FCC DOJ T. Elliot Gaiser Brendan Carr PRWORA Andrew Schwartzman Benton Institute for Broadband and Society Lifeline

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