Two Republican lawmakers have asked the nation's top communications regulator to explain what his agency is doing to prevent fraud in a $2.25 billion program that helps connect schools and libraries to the internet—and at least five other GOP lawmakers have signed onto a bill that would eliminate the program altogether.

Reps. Billy Tauzin, R-La., and James Greenwood, R-Pa., want the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to turn over documents on the operation and oversight of the federal eRate program. Tauzin is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Greenwood heads that committee's oversight and investigations subcommittee.

"We write because of the potential size of waste, fraud, and abuse in this program," the lawmakers said in a March 13 letter to FCC Chairman Michael Powell. A copy of the letter also was sent to Cheryl Parrino, chief executive officer of the Universal Service Administrative Co. (USAC), which oversees administration of the program under the FCC's guidance.

FCC spokesman Michael Balmoris said his agency had no immediate comment on the letter.

The eRate is part of a government effort to underwrite communications services for rural areas and the poor by charging phone companies. Most carriers recover these costs by billing customers a line-item charge for "universal service" on monthly statements.

Up to $2.25 billion is available from the fund each year to provide schools and libraries with discounts for telecommunications services, internet access, and the internal connections required to deliver internet access into classrooms.

Tauzin and Greenwood said there are at least 30 federal and state investigations involving the questionable use of some $200 million in eRate funds. They said congressional auditors and the FCC's own internal investigations have raised concerns that there is not enough oversight of the program.

"The emerging evidence of fraud and abuse around the country may be just the tip of the iceberg," the lawmakers said.

In a September 2002 report from the FCC's inspector general, investigators said that because of a lack of funding to watch over the program they were unable to give "any level of assurance that the program is protected from fraud, waste, and abuse."

In January, these suspected abuses received further attention when the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) released a report based on the FCC's investigations. The CPI report called the eRate "honeycombed with fraud and financial shenanigans."

It was in response to these reports that Tauzin first expressed interest in launching a congressional investigation of the program (see "Old foes target eRate," http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStory.cfm?ArticleID=4260).

Tauzin's and Greenwood's letter comes just three days after the Schools and Libraries Division (SLD) of USAC denied nearly $590 million in 2002 applications because of alleged competitive-bidding violations. About $470 million of these applications reportedly listed IBM Corp. as the primary service provider. (See "SLD denies $590 million in 2002 eRate requests," http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStory.cfm?ArticleID=4301.)