THE COST OF THE OBAMAPHONE PROGRAM JUST WENT UP 50%. HERE’S WHY:

REMEMBER THIS: “Everybody in Cleveland have got Obamaphone, keep Obama as president, you know?” said Michelle Dowery, an Obama supporter at a 2012 Mitt Romney event, which went viral at the time. “He gave us a phone, he’s going to do more. … You sign up, you on food stamps, you on Social Security, you got no income, you got disability.”

Mr. Obama has indeed done more.

The Federal Communications Commission agreed Thursday to expand the Obamaphone, dubbed the LifeLine Program, to include high-speed Internet access. By doing so, the cost of the program will increase by 50 percent, without any efforts to reduce spending elsewhere, or clamp down on the program’s waste, fraud and abuse.

“Failing a major change in direction, the FCC is preparing to massively expand the size and scope of the Lifeline Program without the necessary inclusion of a hard budget or financial constraints,” conservative FCC Commissioner Michael O’Reilly wrote in his blog on the commission’s website.

“Such irresponsible action will balloon a program plagued by waste, fraud, and abuse and result in higher phone bills for every American — including those already struggling in the current economy. In sum, it’s a recipe for disaster, and I can’t and won’t be part of it,” he said.

The Lifeline program currently, is rife with waste, fraud and abuse.

Read more: WT