Barton Outlines Aggressive Agenda As Possible Commerce Chairman

Rep Joe Barton (R-TX), the ranking member of the House Commerce Committee, appears on C-SPAN's "The Communicators" program this week. He's vying to be chairman of the committee in the new Congress and says one of his top priorities would be to block -- perhaps via legislation -- the Federal Communications Commission from reclassifying broadband as a telecommunications service.

"It's imperative that we maintain the freedom of the Internet," Rep Barton said. "I do not agree with the FCC's attempt to regulate the Internet through Title II. We can certainly move legislation making that crystal clear that they do not have that authority. So we will be doing aggressive oversight of the FCC." Also on his agenda: reforming the Universal Service Fund, online privacy, and resolving the D-block spectrum controversy. Rep Barton also said the committee would likely call in Google executives to testify about the Street View privacy breech.