Everyone deserves affordable access to communications services. Even in the Internet era, people rely on telephones to connect to the outside world for job opportunities, medical services and educational advancement. Enter the Lifeline program.

Lifeline provides a modest subsidy to some of our most vulnerable populations — seniors, people with disabilities, veterans, rural residents, Native Americans, communities of color and struggling families — so they can maintain telephone service when they would not otherwise be able to afford it.

Recent media attention has focused on sensational stories that exploit stereotypes about Lifeline subscribers — prompting some members of Congress to call for the program’s elimination. But cutting this program would make it difficult for many U.S. residents to escape the economic circumstances that made them eligible for Lifeline to begin with.

A diverse coalition of more than 80 public interest, civil rights and community-based organizations has asked Congress to protect the Lifeline program.

Tell Congress that you stand with these organizations and the millions of Lifeline subscribers from across the country.