Congress, Back at Work, Has FCC in Its Sights

While Congress has been off on a break over the last two weeks, the five men and women who make up the Federal Communications Commission have been able to breathe a little easier. Soon, that’s going to change.

The FCC commissioners will find themselves in the crosshairs of Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), the powerful chairman of the House Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, when he convenes a hearing about reforming the FCC on May 13. “Process reform at the FCC is critical,” Chairman Walden says. “Process affects policy outcome . . . When you look at the FCC and its track record, it often reaches its decision, builds its record, and loses in court. That is not the flow that similarly constructed agencies have.” The commissioners themselves have also suggested areas of reform. In a speech in March, Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker, a Republican, slammed the commission over its process for reviewing mergers, which can drag on for what seems like an eternity. Chairman Walden, too, has gone after the merger review process, but for different reasons. In an interview with Adweek earlier this month, he sharply criticized the commission for its practice of forcing companies to accept restrictive conditions as a condition of approval.