TechFreedom Urges Congress to Scrap Universal Service Surcharge

WASHINGTON, Sept. 23, 2025 – Free-market think tank TechFreedom urged Congress last week to scrap the Universal Service Fund’s line-item surcharge and rein in its private administrator.

In comments filed to the Senate USF Working Group, TechFreedom Senior Counsel James Dunstan said the Federal Communications Commission had “abdicated its statutory responsibility” by subdelegating control of the nearly $9 billion-a-year fund to the Universal Service Administrative Company, a private entity.

“The FCC has abdicated its statutory responsibility through private delegation to a company with direct ties to the telecommunications industry,” Dunstan wrote. “[USAC] sets its own budget, pays itself handsomely, and creates a funding process so complicated that all but the most sophisticated recipients must pay consultants to help them through the process.”