The FCC program that subsidizes broadband for low-income households will begin expanding to new providers again once oversight is handed off to the states, commission chairman Ajit Pai announced this morning.

The program, called Lifeline, was one of the first thing Pai touched after taking the reins as chairman. While Lifeline has for decades provided discounts (currently $9.25 per month) on phone service for households near the poverty line, Pai slowed an expansion of the program into broadband subsidies that was approved by his predecessor.

At the time, Pai said he was limiting Lifeline’s expansion so that the commission could first address issues of fraud and abuse. Today he’s offering a new explanation for the program’s delay: he…

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