WASHINGTON, D.C – U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp has called on Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai to address recent changes to the federal Lifeline program that would disproportionately impact low-income Native Americans.

Thousands of North Dakotans depend on the Lifeline program for essential telephone service, broadband access, and 911 programs. Last month, the FCC ruled to alter the program and disqualify Lifeline providers which are the only option for rural reservations, meaning that North Dakota tribal members may soon experience gaps in their affordable phone and internet access.

Heitkamp pressed Chairman Pai for answers about how the FCC plans to continue to support telecommunications services for tribal members negatively impacted by the decision. She also asked Chairman Pai about FCC’s tribal outreach and public comment process prior to the agency’s decision last month. Click here to read Heitkamp’s letter to Chairman Pai.

“If we are serious about closing the digital divide and expanding communications access across reservations, this decision is not the way to go,” said Heitkamp. “There is no question that the Lifeline program helps low-income Americans access critical communications services, particularly for those living in Indian Country which too often lacks access to phone and internet services. But the FCC’s decision to cut back Lifeline access through reselling was made without thorough input from tribes, many of whom have no other source for mobile Lifeline services. Because of this sudden rule change, I fear that tribal members—especially Native children—will now lose the critical access to internet they need to do homework or participate in the digital age—and that’s unacceptable. The federal government should be working to expand communications access to tribes—not strip it away.”

North Dakota’s tribes have also voiced their concerns about the FCC’s decision. On the Turtle Mountain Reservation, where the poverty rate is 24 percent higher than the national average, many families rely on Lifeline for all access to emergency and social services.

“Changes to the Lifeline program will adversely affect many families with small children residing within our reservation, leaving them with no communications access,” said Turtle Mountain Acting Chairman Roman Marcellais in a November letter to Chairman Pai. “Please maintain the monthly subsidies for rural reservations, so that our community may continue to have access to emergency services and related programming.”

As a member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Senator Heitkamp grilled Chairman Pai at a recent hearing on the Lifeline program and stressed the importance of maintaining the Lifeline program for North Dakota’s low-income families and seniors. Heitkamp also asked Chairman Pai about ways to thoroughly investigate the program for waste, fraud, and abuse.

Heitkamp has long fought to promote access to high-speed internet on tribal lands, especially for Native children. One of the focuses of Heitkamp’s Commission on Native Children—created by her bill that became law last October—is to help Native students tackle the complex challenges they face on rural reservations, which includes expanding access to reliable, high-speed internet.

After talking with the former FCC Commissioner in 2014 about improving access to high-speed internet in Indian Country, Heitkamp then brought FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel to North Dakota in 2016. They met face-to-face with tribal leaders to underscore the urgency for significant improvements to high-speed internet and cellular service access on Indian reservations across the state. Heitkamp also convened community, cybersecurity, and educational leaders in Grand Forks in 2015 as part of her Strong & Safe Communities Initiative to discuss ways to encourage cyber safety and increase high-speed internet access for the state’s growing number of families and businesses.

In 2014, Heitkamp called attention to the dire need for digital resources for students at Standing Rock’s Cannon Ball Elementary after President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama visited Standing Rock. Just four months after her call, Cannon Ball Elementary was chosen by Apple – a private-sector White House ConnectED partner – to receive Apple educational technology in every classroom.

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