All five FCC commissioners will be on the menu when the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation tees up an FCC oversight hearing in the middle of March.
The session is on the schedule for Wednesday 3/18/15 at 2:30 eastern.
The Committee stated, “As part of the Committee’s oversight responsibilities, the hearing will have a broad scope covering every aspect of the agency, from its Fiscal Year 2016 budget request to major policy issues before the Commission. This will be the Committee’s first public opportunity to directly question the Commission about its controversial Open Internet Order. The Committee is also expected to explore matters related to the modernization of the nation’s communications laws and the reauthorization of the agency, which has not occurred in 25 years.”
The witness list is as cut and dried as they get:
* The Honorable Mignon Clyburn, Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission
* The Honorable Michael O’Rielly, Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission
* The Honorable Ajit Pai, Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission
* The Honorable Jessica Rosenworcel, Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission
* The Honorable Tom Wheeler, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission
What’s Congress going to do, tell the FCC they can’t do the job Congress created the FCC to do? Tell the FCC that they can’t use the authority that Congress gave them? Accuse the FCC of breaking the rules that the FCC sets for themselves when Congress does the exact same thing all the time? This should be a laugh riot.
The transparency of FCC enforcement is well defined in a current article by Mike Dudding published in the “Broadcasters Desktop Reference” at: http://www.theBDR.net The article illustrates how the intentional complexification of FCC regulations serves mainly the insatiable greed of the communications legal fraternity. Dudding is licensee of KDSN-AM/FM in Dennison, Iowa and for the size of his operations is without question, one of the most successful radio broadcasters in the country.
Each year broadcasters spend million$ in fines, fees, forfietures and most significantly legal expenses. At this time several Congresspeople are attempting to address the grossly, costly, irresponsible legislation that has caused so many stations to simply pull the plug. Our organization is currently sifting through hundreds of examples similar to Mr. Dudding”s experience.
In an excellent letter of Feb. 18 to FCC Chm. Tom Wheeler co-signed by Congressmen Fred Upton, Chm. of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Tim Murphy, Chm. Of the House Subcommittee on Oversight and and Investigations, and Greg a Walden, Chm. House Committee on Communications and Technology these gentlemen, in their six page letter really drive home the point to Wheeler their “…longstanding concerns with the fairness, openness, and transparency of several Federal Communications (FCC) administrative and rulemaking processes under your (Wheeler’s) leadership.
Respectfully, Ken Benner, Executive Director, Coalition for Transparency, Clarification and Simplification of Regulations pertaining to American Broadcasting(r)
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