A pending Federal Communications Commission decision that would increase the charges for prepaid calling cards used by the military to stay in touch with their families has irked U. S. Rep. Curt Weldon.
«It’s outrageous,» said Weldon, R-7, of Thornbury. «Our troops need to have some sort of contact with their loved ones and raising their rates and limiting access is not the way to do it.»

The FCC decision would result in rate increases of more than 20 percent, a price hike members of the armed services and their families can ill afford because 95 percent of military personnel use these cards.

Richard Zangara of Darby Township, father of U. S. Army soldier Nicholas Zangara, who was killed in action in Iraq on Saturday, said his son would call home constantly and rang up a monthly credit-card charges of $300 with the special G.I. rate of 4.7 cents per minute.

Supporters of the increase argue that the rules must change to require universal service contributions to be collected, but according to Weldon, such a policy would be nonsensical.

«This action is particularly unconscionable during a time of war,» said Weldon, who sits as vice-chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. «It is ironic that the FCC would vote to shift the burden to pay for a fund designed to help low-income and disadvantaged citizens onto the military and those whom the fund was designed to protect.»

Weldon said he would continue to put maximum pressure on the FCC in hopes of convincing them to abandon the idea.

«If it were up to me, all of our active military would be able to call home for free,» he said.

-- ANTHONY. J. SANFILIPPO