Walden Urging White House to Act on FCC Nominations, Including for New Pai Term

“I’ve communicated to the Trump administration” that the agencies under Commerce’s jurisdiction “need to be filled out pretty soon,” Walden said. Pai should be renominated, “the sooner the better,” Walden added. “He’s on his year of grace.” Pai’s term expired last summer and he must be reconfirmed by the Senate this year to keep serving. Walden joked about the bipartisan cooperation he sees currently for President Donald Trump's Cabinet nominees. “Pretty pathetic,” he said. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has “done a marvelous job just pushing through,” Walden said. ”The notion the Senate would just go all night is pretty amazing.”

White House spokespeople didn't comment on the status of FCC nominations. Former President Barack Obama renominated former Democratic Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel at the start of this Congress to return to the commission, and there's some Senate Democratic backing now for her to return (see 1701240054). Administration officials haven't named any GOP contenders but Indiana State Sen. Brandt Hershman is seen as close to Vice President Mike Pence and one possibility.

Walden lauded the transparency and accountability he sees in Pai’s first steps as chairman “to open up the FCC,” citing actions addressing joint sales agreements and noncommercial education stations (see 1702100015). Pai’s actions also spurred some harsh negative criticism, including from the editorial boards of multiple national newspapers (see 1702130037). “Isn’t it great to be able to call Ajit Pai chairman of the Federal Communications Commission?” Walden asked, noting the clapping for Pai was “louder than for my introduction.”

Walden, who before this year chaired the Communications Subcommittee, invoked the bill he introduced at the end of last Congress to repeal the newspaper broadcast cross-ownership ban. “Antiquated rules like the cross-ownership ban need to go,” Walden said. He said he believes in the free press and is troubled to see newspapers going out of business: “I don’t want that to flee the marketplace.”

Reauthorizations

“We are doing a reauthorization of your agency,” Walden told Pai. “We’re also looking at NTIA.” He called both reauthorizations his “charge” from the GOP caucus. “And hopefully we get a really great [administrator] in there at some point,” he said of the NTIA. The Communications Subcommittee held its first NTIA reauthorization hearing two weeks ago and will bring Pai and the other two commissioners in front of the subcommittee March 8, part of a reauthorization agenda that he and Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., sketched out (see 1702070074 and 1702080076). Blackburn said she wants to be “well on our way” on reauthorizations by the August recess.

Walden resisted immediate attempts to legislate on net neutrality or to overhaul the Communications Act, positions tracking with recent statements from Blackburn. He tried to lead efforts on both those initiatives before.

The agency should take “first steps” in undoing Communications Act Title II reclassification of broadband, as was done in the open internet order, Walden said. “That process will probably take some time.” Republicans ultimately favor legislation for the sake of certainty, he said. He noted his proposed draft legislation from 2015, which Democrats never liked. “I think there’s a common ground we should be able to get here,” Walden said. ISPs didn't cut investment due to the FCC’s open internet order because “they’ll never do that,” Walden conceded, saying the companies did reallocate their spending. Walden held a 2015 hearing on possible economic harm and personally warned of its “ripple effects” then (see 1510270043).

Walden didn’t commit to any immediate filing of a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval on FCC ISP privacy rules, as Blackburn and he previously have said is likely. “We’re still comfortable at this point,” Walden said, saying lawmakers have time to use the tool. “We’re watching it. … We’re not in a big panic.” Lawmakers have time, "especially on our side," he said.

On telecom overhaul, “I always resist the notion that it’s going to be one bill,” Walden said. “They can be a real problem.” He encouraged looking at the market “a piece at a time” and said he would defer to Blackburn, who said she doubts there’s “bandwidth” to do a bigger revamp in 2017. “If the marketplace can handle it, the marketplace should,” Walden said.

Infrastructure

The 2017 focus is on Commerce’s broadband infrastructure work so those measures can “catch a ride on that big infrastructure bill” the administration has talked about, Walden said. He cited town halls in his home state in areas where there's no cellphone coverage. “We will be working on this issue with the Trump administration, when it comes to infrastructure,” he said, citing possibilities on streamlining to reduce the cost in laying fiber, incentives and action at the FCC under Pai to lower the cost of deployment.

“I haven’t seen anything yet,” Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters Tuesday of an administration infrastructure proposal. “We hear from some of the team, some of the officials in the administration on a fairly regular basis, but I haven’t seen anything specific yet that’s been proposed.” They “do hear a lot on the P3 [public-private partnership] approach,” Thune said. “There would have to be some sort of alternative, I think, for rural areas where you don’t have projects that have the kind of revenue stream that would pay off investors.” Any proposal would need “to have other types of project funding in it,” he said, saying he’s “made that clear” in his confirmation hearings such as with Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. Thune previously said any such effort should include broadband.

CTA President Gary Shapiro asked Walden if net neutrality would become less of an issue with more competition. “I suppose,” Walden replied, disputing a comparison with broadband service in Europe due to the differences in density there and in the U.S. “I do think you’re going to see satellite communication coming in.” He said he talked with Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen about a service in the realm of 25/3-5 Mbps. “So competition does make sense,” Walden said.

Walden also affirmed Commerce’s commitment on cybersecurity, citing work for the past decade on the topic and its significance for the electric grid and IoT. “The risks just get bigger; we have to get better,” he said, saying he plans to work with a wide range of stakeholders including law enforcement, industry and civil society. There’s not a need for every agency to try to “grab a piece of that” but every entity affected should work in a cooperative way, he said when asked about the FCC’s role.