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NSR Policy: Cruz v. Carr on USF: Who Wins?

We are at least six months away from serious discussion on the future of the Universal Service Fund (USF). Still, the first week of Trump 2 is providing evidence of what ideas will have pole position when that debate starts. On the question of who should pay, FCC Chair Carr has argued that Big Tech should pay while Senate Commerce Committee Cruz has advocated for USF being funded by congressional appropriations. In the past we have noted how Carr’s position appeared to be gaining bipartisan traction. In this note, we discuss why we think Cruz’s position is more likely to gain traction when the serious debate begins (good for tech and problematic for ISPs), a caveat to Cruz’ position that suggests an underappreciated nuance in his approach to USF, and a footnote to that caveat that suggests that by the time we get to the serious debate, the political landscape for USF reform will have changed in ways that shift the debate to the states, a problematic outcome for the ISPs.