2013 National Grange Legislative Fly-In

2013 NATIONAL GRANGE LEGISLATIVE FLY-IN

Schedule – Sunday, June 2 Communications Workshop with

Amanda Brozana

Dinner with Joel White from CAHC speaking on healthcare issues

Additional briefings on relevant legislation by National Grange Staff

Schedule – Monday, June 3 Breakfast Briefing

Hill appointments

Luncheon with Congressman Collin Peterson, speaking on the progress of the 2013 Farm Bill

Hill meetings

Dinner at AT&T’s Innovation Center for Broadband briefing

Schedule – Tuesday, June 4 Breakfast Briefing with Jose Fuentes

from TracFone speaking on Lifeline program

Hill appointmentsAdam H. Pradko in Congressman Camp’s

officeBrandon McBride in Senator Stabenow’s

office

Council for Affordable Health Coverage

Council OverviewThe Council for Affordable Health Coverage (CAHC) is a broad-based alliance with a singular focus: bringing down the cost of health care for all Americans. We support market based approaches to stem the tide of rising health costs.

Our VisionWe believe that the U.S. health system is ripe for the same kinds of disruptive, technology-driven changes that have transformed the rest of the economy over the past two decades. If every provider performed to the standards of the nations’ best health systems, Americans world save more then $1 trillion a year. Affordability means cutting costs, not shifting them. By creating a more productive health system, we can raise the living standards of all Americans


Current Campaigns Advance competitive markets for providers

and insurers Expand affordable coverage options for

employers and consumers Expand price and quality transparency Promote Medicare Reform Support payment and delivery reforms Ensure strong safety nets


What we doCAHC pursues our mission through a combination of research and educational activities, policy development and legislative and regulatory advocacy. Advocate: We inform and education policymakers and

healthcare leaders. Develop Policy: We conduct independent research

projects and develop out-of-the box policy solutions. Collaborate: We harness the collective expertise of our

members. Educate: We host seminars, conferences and briefings to

educate decision makers and the public.


Aetna American Academy of

Ophthalmology American Osteopathic Association Cigna Communicating for America CVS/Caremark Evolution1 Healthcare Leadership Council Healthgrades International Franchise

Association The Latino Council

National Association for the Self-Employed

National Association of Health Underwriters

National Association of Manufacturers

National Patient Advocate Foundation

National Retail Federation Pharmaceutical Research &

Manufacturers Association Retail Industry Leaders Association Small Business & Entrepreneurship

Council U.S. Chamber of Commerce

CAHC MEMBERS


750 9th Street, NW, Suite 750Washington, D.C. 20001

(202) 407-7090

www.cahc.net

http://www.cahc.net/

WIRELESS LIFELINEJust the Facts

Lately there have been some claims in the news about wireless Lifeline that are just not true, and are putting up roadblocks to providing this valuable service for low-income households.


FACT #1 - There is no “Obama phone.”The Lifeline program has always enjoyed broad

bipartisan support and dates back to 1985. The whole notion of an “Obama phone” is a hoax that has been rebutted by several leading news organizations and fact-checking groups. The simple truth is that the Lifeline program started during the Administration of President Ronald Reagan under a Republican chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The program was later refined by a Republican-controlled Congress in 1996 following enactment of the 1996 Telecommunications Act.


FACT #2 – Taxpayers do not pay a penny for wireless Lifeline.Cutting the Lifeline program will not reduce the federal deficit by one cent. That is because federal funds do not pay for Lifeline. The program is not funded with tax dollars. Instead, this program is funded by contributions from telecommunications companies, which can elect to share the costs of those contributions with their subscribers. Companies that offer free wireless cell phone services pay for the phone themselves. Far from imposing a burden on taxpayers, wireless Lifeline has been documented to help low-income people find and keep jobs, which ultimately reduces spending on public assistance programs.


FACT #3 – Lifeline treats landlines and cell phones exactly the same.Prior to 2008, the federal Lifeline program offered a benefit of $10 a month for landline phones used by eligible, low-income Americans. In 2008, the Bush Administration’s FCC brought Lifeline into the 21st Century by making available exactly the same benefit for wireless phones. The federal government had already decided that universal telecommunications access is a national priority and the creation of wireless Lifeline simply extended the goal set more than two decades earlier during the Reagan Administration. Important note: Only one Lifeline supported service (landline or wireless) may be obtained by any household.


FACT #4 – Cell phones are not subsidized under wireless Lifeline.Companies that offer free phones under Lifeline wireless cover the cost of the phones themselves. No tax dollars and no portion of Universal Service Fund support is used to offset the free phones that some wireless Lifeline companies provide to their customers.


FACT #5 – The wireless Lifeline program is tightly regulated to control fraud and abuse.There is a strict prohibition against beneficiaries receiving Lifeline benefits for more than one phone service. The FCC recently took actions to further tighten eligibility requirements and transparency in the wireless Lifeline program, including such reforms as a 60-day non-usage policy, identity checks by using the individual’s name, date of birth, Social Security Number and address and most importantly, the creation of a national database to verify applicant information by 2013.

WIRELESS LIFELINEJust the FactsFACT#6 – Participation in wireless Lifeline is far below what it should be.For over 25 years, the Lifeline program was largely dormant, in large part due to telecommunications companies failing to create awareness among low-income families that the service existed. With the advent of free wireless Lifeline the penetrations rates increased. However, only about a third of eligible households nationwide are currently benefiting from Lifeline. In 2012, only six states had participation rates exceeding 50 percent of income-eligible households. That means fewer American are without jobs or the ability to keep their jobs. (Research shows that wireless Lifeline helps people who have jobs keep them and also aids those who need jobs to find them.) It is important to also note that Americans have been suffering through the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. As the economy improves, fewer households would qualify for Lifeline services.


ACLU Alliance for Generational Equity (AGE) Alliance for Retired Americans The American Association of People with

Disabilities Anti-Hunger Action Committee Asian American Justice Center, Member

Asian American Center for Advancing Justice

California Alliance for Retired Americans Coalition of Religious Communities Communications Workers of America (CWA) Community Action Partnership Consumer Action Consumer Federation of America Crossroads Urban Center Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund Leadership Conference on Civil and Human

Rights

League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) Maryland CASH Campaign Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition National Alliance to End Homelessness NAACP National Consumers League The National Grange National Organization for Women NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice

Lobby Older Women’s League Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law United Church of Christ, Office of Communication,

Inc. U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Virginia Citizens Consumer Council World Institute on Disabilities

Organizations that have expressed support for wireless lifeline(via coalition letters or their own)

National GrangeRural Broadband Expansion

The Grange believes that the number one technological priority for rural America today is the consumer-driven nationwide transition to high-speed Internet-protocol broadband networks. High-speed broadband networks provide a tremendous opportunity for the nation’s economic growth – opening new avenues for job creation, markets for products, and benefits for consumers – all while increasing our global competitiveness.


The Grange has long recognized the consumer benefits that high-speed broadband enables. We have noted that consumers continue to demand more services and Internet applications that deliver more advanced services at faster speeds and with greater service quality. The Grange supports this nationwide transition away from antiquated and slow communications networks to advance high-speed broadband that will spur innovation and investment across the U.S. agriculture and business sectors.


The seamless communication of voice, data, and Internet applications among devices – otherwise known as the “Internet of Things” that connects our homes, TVs, phones, laptops, machines and tablets enabling them to interact efficiently for consumers’ benefit – maximizes the agricultural, economic, education, healthcare, and professional development opportunities for our rural communities.


The Grange believes that improving and expanding access to 21st century high-speed broadband networks and technologies will drive innovation in the agricultural industry. Broadband networks can create jobs across different business sectors, encourage strong economic gains in every part of the country and encourage the substantial private sector investment in communications networks needed for the United States to remain globally competitive.


The National Grange recognizes that today’s regulatory framework should be modernized. Currently, rules require incumbent telephone companies to maintain two networks, while their competitors are free to build out the advanced broadband networks.

The Grange calls for a national dialogue on the benefits and challenges raised by the transitional to all-IP networks. These rules were designed to address 20th Century voice services in a marketplace that had few competitive options for consumers. The Grange does not see a basis in today’s marketplace for sustaining rules that favor one communications provider over another.


As technology changes to high-speed broadband, the regulatory framework must modernized to reflect the realities of new 21sst century high-speed broadband technology. The Grange supports a light touch regulatory scheme for advanced networks that acknowledges changing market conditions, fosters economic growth in America’s rural communities, promotes competition and choices for consumers and enables innovation across all sectors to flourish.


SPECTRUMNone of the investment in America’s broadband infrastructure or the economic gains and consumer benefits that would follow that investment will be guaranteed if federal regulators do not free up more spectrum for high-speed broadband use. Growth in the wireless sector continues to increase exponentially as more Americans choose mobile communications as their primary method for interacting in today’s digital society. As of December 2012, the Centers for Disease Control states that 35.8% of all Americans live in a household that relies exclusively on mobile connectivity for their communications needs, and that number is growing.


Consumer reliance on mobile is about more then just voice communication. In 2011 alone, wireless data traffic grew 133% with video streaming accounting for a significant amount of traffic carried over the network; one carrier estimates that it has seen a 20,000% increase in data traffic in just the last six years. The agricultural sector is also increasingly relying on wireless broadband in their daily business operations and it is critical that the federal government identify sound solutions to getting more spectrum to market.


With smartphones, tablets, e-readers and other mobile devices proliferating, consumers – and a growing number of businesses- are rapidly adopting mobile products, services, and technologies at a record pace. These digital devices, with their data-hungry apps and Internet-based services, are causing wireless networks to strain as a result of exploding data use.

The Grange urges the federal government to identify inefficiently, or unused, federal spectrum that could be repurposed for consumer mobile use. As consumer wireless adoption accelerates at a quickening pace, policymakers should prioritize making more spectrum available. This spectrum is a vital resource for our country's growth and is needed to immediately address the looming spectrum crunch facing consumers and small businesses.


The National Grange recognizes that speeding the approval of spectrum secondary market transactions between eager buyers and sellers in a free market system is the quickest way to address short term needs. Without additional licensed spectrum, our global competitiveness is threatened. We believe additional spectrum is critically important for the United States to meet growing network capacity constraints and continue to compete in the global race to deploy 4G networks.


In addition to the consumer benefits associated with high-speed mobile broadband, the Grange exhorts policymakers to establish an environment that promotes regulatory and business certainty. The federal government needs to be part of the smart solutions for the benefit of our economy, businesses and consumers.

Written by Grace Boatright, National Grange Legislative Director

Documents

2013 National Grange Legislative Fly-In