Congress Should Be 'Regularly Reauthorizing' FCC Operations, Thune Says

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., may bring back congressional reauthorization of the FCC, he said Wednesday at the American Enterprise Institute headquarters in Washington. “When I talk about reauthorizing the FCC, that hasn’t been done since 1990,” Thune said, expressing a desire to “see if we can get Congress back in the habit of regularly reauthorizing the commission.”

Thune cited several key priorities, pressing his net neutrality legislation and his ambitions for a broader telecom law rewrite. He wants to focus on “how the FCC operates and is structured” and invoked the legislation of Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., who reintroduced the FCC Consolidated Reporting Act this week (see 1501270051). Thune “would like to build on his work,” he said.

No Democrats have joined Thune and other Republicans in backing their draft net neutrality legislation, which would codify net neutrality protections while limiting the FCC’s reliance on Communications Act Title II and Telecom Act Section 706. “Congress should reassert its prerogative to make policy,” Thune said. He's committed to finding Democratic backers but “we haven’t landed anybody with certainty yet,” he said. Thune told us earlier this week that Republicans would advance the legislation even without Democrats if necessary (see 1501270044).

House Republicans have a “very close working relationship” with Thune and are in “lock step,” said Ray Baum, aide to House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., speaking on a later panel. Baum said the idea of waiting for the FCC to issue its net neutrality order, which it is expected to bring to a vote on Feb. 26, is a “backwards approach,” saying Republicans believe the agency should wait for Congress. Republicans are “of course willing to work” with stakeholders who want tweaks to the legislative discussion draft, he said. “It’s not the FCC’s role to tell Congress what to do,” Baum said. “This is too important an issue to our country to not work together on a bipartisan solution.” Republicans may modify the draft to satisfy concerns, he said: “We are engaged with our Democrats.” They've worked with House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., “for over a month,” he said.

The GOP discussion draft “seems to be a reasonable proposal,” said Verizon Senior Vice President-Federal Government Relations Peter Davidson on the same panel as Baum. “I’m hopeful that bipartisanship can re-emerge on this issue.” Davidson said he’s glad Thune outlined several telecom priorities because “probably about 99 percent of all energy in this space is now being expended on the net neutrality issue.”

“I’m not sure that’s where the commission was” before President Barack Obama backed Title II reclassification, Thune said of a possible forthcoming agency Title II order, fearful of that administration influence over an independent agency. “Whatever comes out of this is going to be a 3-2 vote.”

Thune would be “first to tell you” he has been “skeptical” of Internet regulation in the past, but Title II discussion has driven lawmakers to this legislation, he said. “If the FCC is allowed to reclassify broadband it will have unlimited ability to regulate any and every aspect of the Internet ecosystem, especially combined with the newly interpreted” Section 706 authority, Thune said. Congress never intended that “boundless reach,” he said.

The Senate Commerce Committee will “begin a parallel effort” to the House Commerce Committee in overhauling the Communications Act, Thune said. It would be a “dereliction of duty” if Congress didn't try, he said, saying the net neutrality debate and the FCC’s imminent likely Title II reclassification are part of the “lack of clear statutory authority” in outdated telecom law. Congress may tackle a telecom rewrite in an “omnibus reform bill” or perhaps several smaller bills, he said: “Too soon to say.” Thune anticipates the “interrelated” IP transition, interconnection and USF coming into the foreground of this overhaul and sees room for bipartisan collaboration on spectrum policy and cybersecurity. “I want D.C. to move away from the ad hoc, one-band-at-a-time mindset,” Thune said of spectrum policy, pressing for market forces to come into spectrum management. Federal spectrum users “need to start getting used to living much closer to each other,” he said, evoking the image of rowhouses and condos rather than sprawl. Thune also cited his broadcast a la carte proposal Local Choice, saying he’s “committed” to continuing the video overhaul dialogue.

“It’s about time,” Davidson said of a Communications Act overhaul, suggesting modernization would help the marketplace: “What we really don’t know ... is what we’re missing. What is the baggage of the current regulatory system, what is the social welfare we’re leaving on the table?”

“Net neutrality is an issue we’d like to get out of the way,” Baum agreed, expressing House GOP interest in advancing a broader overhaul. Lawmakers may issue “another white paper or two,” soliciting feedback from stakeholders, but “no final decisions have been made on that,” Baum said.

Senate Commerce plans a hearing on the proposed Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition after the February ICANN meeting in Singapore, Thune said, promising to keep a “very close eye on the issue of Internet governance.” That hearing would include NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling and ICANN President Fadi Chehade, Thune said. “If this transition is going to happen it has to be done very carefully,” he said, warning of other countries like Russia and China that may want to “hijack” the process. If the transition ends up fraught with problems, "the administration should simply renew the IANA contract indefinitely," Thune said.

Thune also pointed to data breaches and cybersecurity as Senate Commerce key priorities. Republicans “won’t shy away" from a vote on the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, as Senate Democratic leadership did in the last Congress, Thune said. He also plans to reintroduce legislation “in the coming weeks” with Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., to make a moratorium on Internet access taxes permanent, he said. “Policymakers must be as nimble as our world-class businesses and our foreign competitors,” Thune declared, anticipating 2015 will be “a very big year for tech policy.”