California Stole Millions for Dead People’s Phone Lines. Gavin Newsom Is Lying About It.
California raked in $3.8 million in federal Lifeline subsidies for phone and internet service on accounts tied to more than 94,000 dead people. That’s not a clerical hiccup—it’s brazen waste of taxpayer dollars on a massive scale.
Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr has publicly exposed the fraud. His audit makes one thing abundantly clear: tens of thousands of Californians were enrolled after their deaths, triggering millions in improper payouts.
Governor Gavin Newsom’s attempted cover-up is transparent. He claims routine “lag time” between a death and account closure explains it all. Carr’s response: normal processing delays don’t account for the scale—or the after-death enrollments—documented in the inspector general’s report.
This scandal is more than accounting malpractice. It exemplifies California’s runaway entitlement state—where lack of oversight and political indifference turn taxpayer checks into open spigots for waste, fraud and abuse.
The Democratic supermajority running Sacramento shrugged off oversight responsibilities, leaving federal lifeline programs vulnerable to exploitation. Their answer? Blame administrative glitches and demand more federal money, not accountability.
Republicans in Congress must seize this moment. We need stringent reforms to the Lifeline program: real-time death‐match verification, automatic account terminations, punishing fines for states that milk the system, and full transparency on fund disbursements.
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice should open a criminal probe into California’s misuse of federal funds. California officials who certify those phantom accounts must face consequences.
Voters deserve a governor who safeguards taxpayer dollars, not one who spins excuses while wasteful subsidies drain your earnings. Gavin Newsom’s denial only underscores a single truth: California’s entitlement bureaucracy is broken, and it will take bold Republican leadership to fix it.
