USF Challengers to Judges: FCC Not Limited by Telecom Act
Lawmakers are working to update the fund’s contribution base.
WASHINGTON, April 6, 2026 – Opponents of the Universal Service Fund are continuing to ask federal judges to find parts of the $8.5 billion-per-year telecom subsidy unconstitutional.
The conservative nonprofit challenging the program told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit the Federal Communications Commission was free to raise and spend as much as it wanted under the program, despite the agency maintaining it was restricted by the Telecom Act of 1996.
“Many of these ‘restrictions’ apply to only a portion of the program, and FCC’s account shows that even where they do apply, their pliable terms impose no meaningful limits,” Consumers’ Research wrote in a Friday filing. “If the Court disagrees, we respectfully urge it to clarify with specificity the constraints imposed.”
