Reps. Meeks, Cummings, and Pallone Lead Request for GAO Investigation into Fraudulent Identities Submitted to FCC

Reps Gregory Meeks (D-NY), House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD), and House Commerce Committee Ranking MemberFrank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) led six other Democrats in sending a letter to the Government Accountability Office requesting that it investigate and issue a report that uncovers the extent that outside groups were using false identities during the Federal Communications Commission’s recent network neutrality rulemaking process.  The letter also requests that GAO examine whether this shady practice extends to other agency rulemaking processes. Other Democratic Reps who signed on to the letter include Reps Eliot L. Engel (D-NY), Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY), Nydia Velasquez (D-NY), Paul Tonko (D-NY), Elizabeth Etsy (D-CT), and Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY). “We understand that the FCC’s rulemaking process requires it to address all comments it receives, regardless of who submits them,” the Members wrote. “However, we do not believe any outside parties should be permitted to generate any comments to any federal governmental entity using information it knows to be false, such as the identities of those submitting the comments.”