Oversight Of The Federal Communications Commission: The National Broadband Plan

On April 21, after a National Broadband Plan oversight hearing on March 25, House Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) sent Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski a 14-page follow-up letter with written questions for the record directed to him from Members of the Committee.

Knock, knock. Who's there? Dingellgram.

The Federal Communications Commission spent $20 million on the year-long process of creating the national broadband plan.

The House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet held an oversight hearing exploring the details of the Federal Communications Commission's recently released National Broadband Plan.

Republicans have signaled their major concerns, and likely lines of questioning, about the national broadband plan in a briefing memo to Republican congressional members and staff in advance of the March 25 broadband oversight hearing with the five Federal Communications Commission commissioners.

House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher (D-VA) said that his proposed legislation to overhaul the Universal Service Fund would go further than what the Federal Communications Commission could do under its current authority.

The National Broadband Plan could get a boost from possible House legislation that would grant the agency authority to implement one of its core recommendations: creating a nationwide wireless broadband network for public safety officials.

In testimony prepared for a House oversight hearing, Federal Communications Commission member Michael Copps advises Congress that the FCC should exercise "great caution" in reclaiming spectrum from broadcasters because of the potential harm to a diversity of voices, one of his signature concerns.

In testimony prepared for a House oversight hearing, Federal Communications Commission member Mignon Clyburn will say that the national broadband plan should make sure there are least two broadband offerings in every market to insure price and speed competition.

Here's a Top 10 list of questions Members of Congress should ask FCC Chairman Genachowski this week.

The National Broadband Plan appears designed to please a wide array of constituencies, but maintaining the support of competing interests will be challenging when the political daggers come out during the implementation phase.