Federal Communications Commission Process Reform Act of 2015

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2583, the Federal Communications Commission Process Reform Act of 2015.

The FCC has a role in regulating industries that make up one-sixth of our economy and whose services have been essential to consumers, and it is important that the FCC functions in a fast, efficient, and transparent way.

The FCC Chairman has made process reform a priority of his tenure, and he has made great strides in improving how the FCC functions. But it is the role of Congress to make adjustments like we are doing today. I believe that the final text of the bill we are considering today will achieve that goal, and I urge all Members to support it.

Not all of the issues in the FCC Process Reform Act are new. In fact, the base of the bill being considered here today is very similar to the bill that passed the House under suspension by voice vote last Congress. It requires the FCC to adopt procedural rule changes to maximize public participation and to look into other potential process changes, including whether to establish deadlines for application processing. It also includes the provisions of the FCC Collaboration Act, an issue championed by Representative Eshoo, which will allow commissioners to freely discuss FCC issues with sufficient safeguards to protect against abuse.

Democrats offered additional suggestions earlier this year when the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology considered this and other bills aimed at FCC process reform. The ideas of subcommittee members Clarke, Loebsack, and Matsui furthered our goal to help make the FCC fast, efficient, and transparent.

The simple suggestions were to, one, require the FCC to provide quarterly reports on pending items with the agency to ensure accountability and timely responses; two, require, the FCC to coordinate with the Small Business Administration to improve small-business participation in FCC proceedings; and, third, require the FCC Chairman to publicly post the agency's internal policies and procedures for greater transparency.

Although we could not agree on the policies offered by the Republicans and dissented from the version of the bill that was favorably reported from the Energy and Commerce Committee in June, we worked in a bipartisan manner to craft the language that we take up today. This version of the bill takes the bipartisan language from last Congress and includes most of the Democratic suggestions that improve the bill.

I appreciate Chairman Upton and Chairman Walden's willingness to listen to our concerns and work with us to achieve a bipartisan result. It is a stronger bill because of it.

I also want to thank Communications and Technology Subcommittee Ranking Member Anna Eshoo for her leadership on these issues, as well as Representatives Clarke, Loebsack, and Matsui, for their thoughtful considerations. I look forward to continuing to work with our Republican and Democratic colleagues in the Senate to help this bill become law. Again, I urge its passage.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source