For Immediate Release
Contact: Keep USF Fair Coalition/202-263-2920
WASHINGTON, DC (OCTOBER 11) -- Keep USF Fair Coalition, a group working to keep the Universal Service Fund collection system progressive, announces more than 33,000 new individual members, and that the American Council of the Blind, National Hispanic Council on Aging, and the National Native American Chamber of Commerce have joined the Coalition. The groups and individuals are committed to support the coalition in their efforts to keep the Universal Service Fund (USF) collection method fair, and to reject the proposal before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to move to a regressive, per-line flat fee.
Collectively, the supporters of the coalition recently sent more than 144,000 letters, faxes and e-mails to policy makers in Congress, urging them to keep the collection methodology of the USF fair by maintaining the current nondiscriminatory USF collection method.
Keep USF Fair also announces another series of ads in Communications Daily, The Hill and Roll Call. The ads feature testimonials from Keep USF Fair coalition members, outlining why they disagree with the proposed changes to the collection methodology. The heart-wrenching stories also demonstrate how the proposed change will adversely impact low-income, disabled and elderly telecommunications users. Click here to see ad.
"The low-volume, long distance users adversely impacted by this change will be families, students and senior citizens on fixed incomes, including minority consumers and small business owners," said coalition co-chair Dr. Gabriela Lemus, Director of Policy and Legislation, LULAC. "It is regressive and unfair to shift the burden from high volume users like large corporations to fixed-income consumers and small business owners."
The coalition was formed in April 2004. Founding members include Alliance For Public Technology, Alliance For Retired Americans, American Association Of People With Disabilities, Black Leadership Forum, Deafness Research Foundation, Gray Panthers, League Of United Latin American Citizens, National Association Of The Deaf, National Grange, Telecommunications Research & Action Center, World Institute On Disability. Coalition supporters include the NEA, AARP and NAACP, who have filed comments with the FCC in support of a non-regressive USF collection method.
For more information on the coalition, or to join, visit www.keepusffair.org.
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