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No Lifeline for Dead People Act
To terminate the ability of eligible telecommunications carriers in certain States to use State eligibility determination processes in place of the National Verifier to determine the eligibility of consumers for Lifeline service.
Summary
The bill requires eligible telecommunications carriers to use the National Verifier system to determine the eligibility of consumers for Lifeline service, which provides subsidized voice telephony or broadband internet access to low-income consumers. The bill prohibits carriers from providing Lifeline service to any consumer unless the National Verifier has been used to verify the consumer's eligibility. This change eliminates the current ability of certain states to use their own eligibility determination processes in place of the National Verifier.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Sen. Ernst, Joni [R-IA] (R-IA)
1 cosponsor
- Sen. Shaheen, Jeanne [D-NH] (D-NH)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Joni Ernst’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- NULL $57,653
- CAPITAL GROUP $40,000
- SOROBAN CAPITAL $13,200
- CAPITAL GROUP COMPANIES $7,500
- GOOGLE $6,800
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Joni Ernst → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Feb 26, 2026 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. · senate
- Feb 26, 2026 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 26, 2026
Ms. Ernst introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
A BILL
To terminate the ability of eligible telecommunications carriers in certain States to use State eligibility determination processes in place of the National Verifier to determine the eligibility of consumers for Lifeline service.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “No Lifeline for Dead People Act”.
SEC. 2. MANDATORY USE OF NATIONAL VERIFIER TO DETERMINE LIFELINE ELIGIBILITY.
(a) Definitions.—In this section:
(1) Eligible telecommunications carrier.—The term “eligible telecommunications carrier” means a common carrier designated as an eligible telecommunications carrier under section 214(e) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 214(e)).
(2) Lifeline service.—The term “Lifeline service” means voice telephony service or broadband internet access service provided under the program set forth in subpart E of part 54 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation.
(3) National verifier.—The term “National Verifier” has the meaning given the term in section 54.400 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation.
(b) Mandatory Use of National Verifier.—An eligible telecommunications carrier may not provide Lifeline service to a consumer unless the carrier has used the National Verifier to verify the eligibility of the consumer for Lifeline service. <all>
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