FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is placing more "safeguards" on a subsidy program for the poor, per a letter sent Tuesday. The Lifeline program was recently expanded from only covering phone service to to include broadband.

What Pai wants: He wants the non-profit that administers Lifeline to implement changes like auditing the companies that provide the subsidized service to check for "ineligible" subscribers and increasing oversight of the individual salespeople who work for the carriers.

Why it matters: Pai is acting on his longtime criticism of the program, which he says is fraught with waste and fraud. It also sets up a fight over a program that many low-income Americans rely on.