第五巡回法院裁定FCC越权设立基金管理机构 年约90亿美元电信补贴机制再陷争议
据路透社报道，美国联邦第五巡回上诉法院10月15日（周四）裁定，联邦通信委员会（FCC）在1990年代末设立电信补贴计划时超越了自身权限。
由三名法官组成的合议庭认为，国会从未明确授权FCC在1997年设立普遍服务管理公司（USAC）来收取资金并设定缴款比例，此举违反了《政府公司控制法》。主持撰写意见的法官伊迪丝·布朗·克莱门特在裁定中表达了这一立场。普遍服务基金（Universal Service Fund）通过这家私营公司向电信运营商收取资金，用于补贴农村与低收入地区居民的基本通信服务，规模约为每年90亿美元，成本大多由运营商转嫁给消费者。
FCC发言人回应称，委员会正在考虑所有可行的选项，并指出这项针对近30年前一项决定的裁定，其命令最早也要两个月后才会生效。
这笔基金除低收入与农村地区外，还用于扩大美洲原住民部落地区的通信服务，并帮助学校、图书馆与农村医疗机构获得必要的通信服务。据报道，2024年该计划惠及750万个低收入家庭，向电信公司支付42亿美元以在服务难以到达的农村地区提供高速互联网，并在此前三年间向11.8万所学校和图书馆提供70亿美元互联网服务资金、覆盖5400万名学生。
值得注意的是，美国最高法院曾于2025年6月认可FCC为这一数十亿美元计划筹资的机制，推翻了第五巡回法院此前认定该缴款机制相当于变相征税的裁决；本次裁定则从管理机构的设立授权这一不同角度对该计划提出质疑。（GSM 据路透社报道）
Fifth Circuit Rules FCC Exceeded Authority in Setting Up $9 Billion Telecom Subsidy Fund
A U.S. federal appeals court ruled on Thursday that the Federal Communications Commission exceeded its authority when it set up a telecom subsidy program in the late 1990s, according to Reuters.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that Congress never specifically authorized the FCC to establish the Universal Service Administrative Co (USAC) in 1997 to collect the funds and set contribution rates, and that doing so violated the Government Corporation Control Act. Judge Edith Brown Clement wrote the panel's opinion. The Universal Service Fund collects money from telecom carriers through the private company to subsidize basic communications services for consumers in rural and low-income areas, drawing about $9 billion a year, with most carriers passing the cost on to customers.
An FCC spokesperson said the commission was considering all options available to it, and noted that the order, which addresses a decision made almost 30 years ago, would not go into effect until two months from now at the earliest.
Beyond low-income and rural areas, the fund has widened services to Native American tribal lands and helped schools, libraries and rural health care facilities obtain essential communications services. In 2024, the program benefited 7.5 million low-income households, paid telecom companies $4.2 billion to provide high-speed internet in hard-to-serve rural areas, and had provided $7 billion over three years to 118,000 schools and libraries serving 54 million students, according to the report.
In June 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court endorsed the way the FCC funds the program, overturning an earlier Fifth Circuit decision that had called the mandatory-contribution mechanism a misbegotten tax; Thursday's ruling challenges the program on the different ground of the agency's authority to create its administrator. (GSM, based on Reuters reporting)
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：图：光纤电缆铺设施工现场（资料图）。摄影：Rubin Observatory/NSF/AURA，CC BY 4.0，来源：Wikimedia Commons
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