Keep drinking that kool-aid. Internet rumor is a wonderful thing.
Forwarded email claims the Obama administration has started a program whereby taxpayer money is being 'redistributed' to provide free cell phones and service to welfare recipients.
Description: Email rumor
Circulating since: Oct. 2009
Status: Partly true, with spin
Is there a U.S. government program that provides free or discounted phones and wireless service to low-income Americans?
Yes. It consists of two parts: "Link-Up," which helps income-eligible people set up new home phone service, and "Lifeline," which helps income-eligible people pay their monthly phone charges. (Source: FCC)
Was this program instituted by the Obama administration?
No. Nor was it just instituted "earlier this year," as the email claims. The program as it exists today was created over a decade ago by an act of Congress, the Telecommunications Act of 1996. A version of the Lifeline program was already in operation as far back as the early 1980s. (Source: Lifelinesupport.org)
Does the program offer every welfare recipient a free phone and 70 minutes of wireless service?
Not necessarily. The specific benefits vary according to locale and service provider. Also, the program is designed to help low-income people generally, not just welfare recipients. Examples: Safelink Wireless | ATT Lifeline and Link-Up | Verizon Low Income Programs. (Source: FCC)
Is it accurate to say that taxpayer money is being 'redistributed' to provide these services?
Basically yes, though not in the sense one might assume. Apart from being administered by the FCC, it's not a federally-funded program. Since its inception, the program has been financed via the pooled contributions of commercial phone service providers, which in turn
impose small monthly fees on their regular customers to recoup the cost. (Source: FCC)
http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/barackobama/a/obama_phone_free_cell_phones.htm