Groups Ask FCC to Undo Lifeline Revocations; Sohn Says E-Rate Also in 'Crosshairs'

and stalled imminent service from the other eight," said a Free Press release Thursday highlighting a letter to the FCC signed by it and 37 others, including the AFL-CIO, American Library Association, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Center for Media Justice, Common Cause, Communications Workers of America, NAACP, National Hispanic Media Coalition, New America's Open Technology Institute, Public Knowledge, Benton Foundation, Greenlining Institute and United Church of Christ. Separately, Gigi Sohn, a former counselor to previous FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, said the new Republican majority also has in its "crosshairs" the E-rate program subsidizing school and library telecom service and connections. She cited the Feb. 3 revocation of a January staff E-rate report and Commissioner Mike O'Rielly's Feb. 9 criticism of self-construction efforts by E-rate applicants that overbuild existing networks (see 1702100060). "Much like the case of Lifeline, the majority is using procedural steps and administrative tools to weaken the E-Rate program," said Sohn, an Open Society Foundations Leadership in Government fellow, in a blog post Wednesday. An FCC spokesman said Thursday the agency had no comment beyond Pai's recent defense of the Lifeline decision (see 1702070062).