Supreme Court Appears Reluctant to Eliminate Monthly Phone Fee

The USF has been in conservatives' crosshairs for some time.

Maybe more important than the questions asked were the ones that weren’t.

“The chief justice was very, very quiet,” Crews said.

What is the Universal Service Fund?

Pull up your phone bill and do a Ctrl+F search for “Universal Service.”

You’ll likely see a couple bucks tacked on for the program.

At the heart of the USF case is an idea called “universal service.”

It’s run by the Universal Service Administrative Company, a private not-for-profit.

“Do you really want to overturn a 30-year program for the sake of some theoretical thing?”

“This is a very popular program, particularly because it serves lots of Republicans.”

What’s next?

That said, funding internet subsidies through phone bill fees is probably untenable long-term.

Would they give Congress and the FCC time to reform the program or find alternate funding?

“I think they would,” Levin said.