FCC agents told to keep Obamaphone fraud secret from Congress until after approval to expand

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The Obama administration is all about politics.

In early April the Federal Communications Commission announced that it was seeking $51 million in damages from a California-based wireless phone companies for abusing the Lifeline program what offers cell phones to low-income families at a discounted fee.

The FCC had known about this for months, yet the Obama administration told agency commissioners not to release its allegations against the provider, Total Call Mobile, until April 1 — the day after a vote to expand the so-called “Obama-phone” program to include subsidized broadband Internet.

“It’s one of the most remarkable coincidences I’ve ever come across in Washington,” Republican FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai told “Fox & Friends Weekend” host Anna Kooiman.

“We were told about this investigation in February, and we were also told that we couldn’t say anything about it publicly,” he said.

“Even if every commissioner voted, nonetheless the FCC would not release any word about it until April first. And we said, ‘well, why is that?’ We never got a satisfactory explanation.”

The fraud, waste and abuse committed by Total Call Mobile was kept from Congress, which voted to expand the Lifeline program on March 31 to include subsidized high-speed Internet.

“If this had become public before that March 31 vote, it would have been a very public different debate, I would like to think,” Pai concluded.

“The critical thing to remember here is that this money isn’t free,” he added. “Everyone with a phone bill including hard-working, low-income Americans, have to pay the tax to fund this program.”

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Watch the clip, via Fox News.

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