Rep. Greg Walden, a Fierce FCC Critic, to Chair Influential House Telecom Panel

Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), one of the harshest critics in Congress of the Democratic-led Federal Communications Commission, will head the House Communications, Technology and the Internet Subcommittee in the Republican-controlled House in the 112th Congress.

Incoming Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton indicated he would enlist all the subcommittee chairs in an army of budget-cutters. "Every member and every subcommittee will be on the frontlines as we take on federal agencies -- EPA, HHS, DOE, FCC, you name it -- to identify wasteful programs and target areas to immediately cut spending."

The announcement could spell bad news for FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, who can expect blunt questioning and tough oversight from Rep Walden, a GOP firebrand who has previously accused the agency of overstepping its regulatory authority. In a statement, Walden emphasized that oversight of the $7.2 billion broadband stimulus program, run by the Agriculture and Commerce departments, would be a high priority. "With that much money going out so quickly, taxpayers need to know how it's being spent and what they're getting for it," he said. "We will conduct oversight on those expenditures and will also review the existing regulatory policies and new regulations under consideration by various agencies."

In the fall of 2009, Rep Walden expressed outrage over the FCC's hiring of Mark Lloyd, a civil rights advocate and former professor who was brought aboard to promote media diversity, because of critical views he'd expressed about conservative talk radio and other topics.