Eyewitness News showed Rep. Virginia Foxx people found with multiple phones. Foxx is one of 42 sponsors of a bill introduced in January to end Lifeline.
House members are putting a government phone program under the microscope.
The program is called Lifeline and under its rules, each household with someone on either Medicaid or food stamps can receive one free phone.
Eyewitness News showed Rep. Virginia Foxx people found with multiple phones.
Foxx is one of 42 sponsors of a bill introduced in January to end Lifeline.
The program has given low-income households access to a phone, landline or cellphone, for 28 years.
Jessica Gonzalez used it a decade ago after she was laid off. A portion of the federal universal service charge on phone bills pays for Lifeline.
"Lifeline support can be the only means for regularly staying in touch with a doctor, applying for a job, or contacting 911," Gonzalez said.
The government spends $2.2 billion a year on the program, but some lawmakers said it's time to disconnect
"You are doing a terrible job at marketing it because you have lost the public opinion war on this and it's tough to get the genie back in the bottle," Rep. John Shimkus said.
There's a new bill to expand the Lifeline program to include Internet access too.
Supporters said the Federal Communications Commission changed Lifeline to make it harder to get multiple phones. That change kicked five million people off the service.
Eyewitness News found issues still exist.
An FCC official said service providers won't say how much they profit from the government's free phone program and, when lawmakers asked how much will Lifeline cost next year, the FCC didn't know.
