Federal Communications Commission Process Reform Act of 2012

Floor Speech

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Mr. MARKEY. I thank the gentlelady so much.

I think all of us on the Democratic side would agree that if there were a way to streamline and strengthen the FCC's procedures, and if we could find a way to improve the way in which it carries out its duties, well, we would support that. However, the aim of the Republican legislation is not to streamline the Federal Communications Commission; it is to straitjacket the Federal Communications Commission. This is a bill which would severely restrict the Commission's ability to operate effectively.

If this bill becomes law, then the ``FCC'' would stand for ``Fully Constrained Commission''; and that, ladies and gentlemen, is the goal of the Republicans in this legislation. It would establish a separate administrative process to govern the FCC's internal operations that would be different from and more cumbersome than any other Agency's in the entire Federal Government, without producing any policy benefits.

Now, we know who supports the bill. AT&T, big companies, they support this legislation. We also know who opposes this legislation. Every consumer group and every public interest group in the country says this is a particularly bad bill from a public interest perspective. But if you're AT&T, if you're a big company, you'll love this. This is going to tie the Commission in knots. You can continue to do whatever you feel like doing indefinitely because the Republicans have decided to create the most cumbersome--the most cumbersome--regulatory process of any Agency in this country.

They're a model. They're pioneers here, the Republicans out here on the floor. They want to create the most modern ``redtape, tie them in knots'' agency possible with the hopes that other Federal Agencies would wind up emulating them. And it's going to be the first jobs bill that the Republicans have passed so far in this Congress because this bill is going to create so many jobs for lobbyists, so many jobs for lawyers, and so many jobs for all of the people who are now going to be put to work trying to untangle and untie this mess of a bill of a regulatory Agency that is going to be created by this process.

So, ladies and gentlemen, this bill takes the public interest standard, the public benefits that have always been the test of whether or not the Agency can, in fact, make a decision that ensures that the interests of all Americans are being protected, and turns it into something which is going to wind up with a harmful, drastic departure from current law.

This bill is a wolf in sheep's clothing. Vote ``no.''

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