[telecom] just like the real beneficiary of Food Stamps is Big Agriculture...

Indeed. As the story points out later, this is the lifeline phone service program, which dates back to the Reagan admininstration. Slim is involved because he owns Tracfone, the largest prepaid MVNO. It's also probably because the program only pays $9.25/mo and Tracfone is one of the few wireless carriers that can provide a useful amount of service at that price. (I have one, and pay $100/yr for about 1000 minutes.)

Beyond that it's just typical right wing grandstanding and demonizing the poor. Evidently the Republicans have never had to look for a job, or have too little imagination to envision how hard a job search would be if you don't have a number where employers can call you back to schedule an interview or let you know you got the job.

R's, John