Transcripts For CSPAN3 New FCC Chair Ajit Pai Testifies On Capitol Hill 20170314

Discussion. Thank you very much. Judge neil gorsuch, President Trumps pick has his his confirmation hearing coming up. Beginning march 20th with opening statements, the next day will be questioning of the nominee himself by outside groups and witnesses. Live starting on the 20thth check cspan. Org for coverage plans. Judge gorsuch was born in denver in 1967 and went to Harukyo Nomura lard law school before being appointed to the bench. Anyone working at any hedge fund who involved in short term trading meaning every day theyre coming in and out of stocks all these people want edge. That is a common term, they want edge and theres this wide edge kind of useless for their purposes, theres the gray zone and black edge which is clearly inside information. Sunday night on q a talks about the Insider Trading case against hedge manager steven cohen. In her book black edge, inside information, dirty money and the quest to bring down the most wanted man on wall street. The two central characters at the heart of the store, central in my book are these two portfolio managers, Matthew Martoma and michael steinberg, and martoma is serving a lengthy prison sentence, with you stein bergs was overturned. Sat night 7 00 p. M. Ian on cspans q a. Federal relations chair testified at a hearing over the Commerce Senate committee over neutrality rules, wireless Broadband Access and Internet Access and connectivity for americans in countrys rural areas, this was commissioners first appearance, in late january, this is about two hours, 40 minutes. Abouttwohours 40 minutes. Abouttwohours, 40 minutes. Twohours, 40 minutes. Hours, 40 minutes. Good morning. Welcome to todays hearing on oversight of communications commission, i should point out since this committee has jurisdiction over sports last night the South Dakota State University jack rabbits punched their ticket by inning the summit tournament. I no im getting gavelled down here by someone. That was applause . Thats what youre supposed to do. The last time we met was six years ago and a lot has changed since then. We have several new members of this committee for whom this is their first fcc oversight hearing, at the last i said i hope to see changes, i urged all to treat each other fairly, respect the law, and seek guidance and consensus wherever possible and im heartened because the fcc seemed to have heeded this advice, chairman pies need to improve the transparency, counter to the recent predecessors, the simple steps empower the public an other commissioners, chairman pie emphasized that guiding it representing a rural state where many people are still without Broadband Service this is a goal he and i share. The fcc has taken huge steps to improve broadband deployment by moving forward in both the Mobility Fund and connect america fund that the commission could move forward so quickly with the universal funds begs a question why they were not completed much sooner, nevertheless it is refreshing to help bring broadband to every corner of the country. Also nice to see a. M. Radio and broadcast Television Better serve the american public. I recognize that not everything the commission will do will be nonpartisan, i was a vocal critic of the previous chairmans hyper partisan leadership style. I am referring to the primarily 2015 title two order and broadband privacy order. I do think we need to hit reset on both items. And im glad to see the fcc has started that process bissettiy the rules next week. It is important for congress to pass bipartisan legislation, but since we dont have that agreement despite goodwill on both sides, theres no need to hold off under current statutes. Something tells me much of todays hearing will be dedicate today this topic. The fcc is in the final stage osthe broadcast tv incentive auction which has been a real success. 84 megahurts have been allocated for brad band. While the auction process maybe almost done the work is not complete. It will start on the repacking process and no small undertaking for the agency nor for many tv stations. I urge the commission to do everything in its power to ensure the transition is successful and occurs as quickly and responsibly as possible. Robocalls is another problem, this is a positive step in the right direction the government must do everything we can to protect consumers from truly bad actors, which is why this committee worked on antispoofing ladies and gentlemen legislation. The fcc proposed notice of inquiry will give a much needed jumpstart to that conversation. Lastly i will note for colleagues that we will be busy with fcc chairman nominations. The president renominated him to another term. There are two vacant positions, its my hope that the senate will move swiftly to review and confirm the president s appoint ees, we should not allow it to fall below the functioning quorum. Ensuring the agency is sufficiently constituted will be a priority of mine this year. Thank you and rebcognizing the chairman for opening statement. Thank you. I welcome the three members of the fcc including the new chairman in his first appearance as chairman. The president has renominated him and given him primary responsibility over what this senator believes is one of the most important Consumer Protection agencies of the federal government. The last eight years the fcc has had the consumers back. Ultimately for this senator the commission rests not on the fulfillment of wish lists, but on how those who are least able to protect themselves have been treated and whether First Amendment rights including those of journalists are vigorously protected. So since assuming the chairmanship in just the last few weeks, the fcc, chairman pal, under your leadership, has acted to prevent millions of broadband subscribers from receiving Key Information about rates, terms and conditions of their service. Acted to guarantee that broadband subscribers will have less protections with respect to the security of their own line data while promising to further weaken the duties broadband providers owed to protect the web browsing history and other personal information of paying subscribers. And by the way, that will arouse people pretty quick when you start stealing their personal data. Third thing is just in the last few weeks, threaten the expansion of broadband into the homes of lowincome americans by limiting the effectiveness of new Lifeline Program reforms. And the fourth thing, in the last few weeks, formally rescinded an fcc staff report detailing the implementation of the agencys comprehensive erate modernization effort that sent shockwaves through schools and libraries across the country that are worried that you all are going to try to up end this highly functioning and bipartisan program. These are actions that directly impact the lives of millions of americans. I hope theyre not signs of things to come. Because at the end of the day, the fcc has the responsibility to put the Public Interest ahead of special interest and just as it has with its past chairman, congress expects the commission to uphold the laws it has passed and enforce the regulations properly adopted by the agency. And thats what the Public Interest and this senator has and will continue to demand. Now, theres something left undone that hasnt been done. And that is the three of us right here were just talking about it. Discussing my frustration with the fact that Jessica Rosenwursal is not seated here today in front of us. The failure to confirm her in the last congress that was made a commitment as an exchange of the appointment of commissioner oreilly, that commitment was never fulfilled and thats a black mark on the senate. And the president s decision to pull her nomination last week i think was in fortune. I hope that the white house is going to correct that and nominate this impressive Public Servant for another fcc term once again. If it happens, it should, its imperative to the Senate Leadership for the promise and confirm her without dispatch. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator nelson. And i would share your high level of interest in getting a full compliment of commissioners and i hope that we receive those nominations soon and we will process them very quickly through this committee when that time comes. I do want to recognize the commissioners we have in front of us today and thank you for being here. Were going to start with ajit pal who i would not congratulate by being nominated to another term. The agency has a lot of work ahead of it and getting reconfirmed soon will start steering the me in the right direction. If you perform well today, this could double as your ree n renomination hearing. Commissioner mignon clyburn, welcome, good to have you here, and commissioner michael ri oreilly. Did you get that . If you perform well. No pressure. Chairman thune, Ranking Member nelson, members of the committee, thank you for holding this hearing today. I also wish to thank the president for the confidence he has shown in me by nominating me to serve a second term at the fcc. Before discussing the matters ruling to the agency, i would like to offer a personal note. I grew up in the great state of kansas and i am an Indian American. And just a few months ago, i made a personal professional, rather, visit to garmans headquarters in kansas. It was thus quite painful to me to learn of the coldblooded murder of a garman engineer and the shootings. I cannot fathom how those involved must feel. As it stands, words cannot capture how this has hurt those of us, particularly those of indian descent, who call kansas home. I do want to say that my thoughts, my prayers, are with the families. To thank him for the courage he showed in risking his life and to stand alongside the millions of kansasians is saying the perpetrator is the despicable exception that proves the rule when it comes to the spirit of openness and respect in the sunflower state. Returning to the focus of todays hearing, id like to discuss four fcc priorities. Closing the Digital Divide. Promoting innovation. Protecting consumers and public safety. And reforming the processes. First, high speed Internet Access or broadband is critical to Economic Opportunity. The broadband is unavailable or unaffordable in too many places. The fcc can help close this Digital Divide by more efficiently targeting federal funds under u. S. Programs. By revising regulations that deter private investment in nextgeneration networks and by creating deploymentfriendly best practices. The first six weeks of my chairmanship, weve already taken bold action along these lines. We adopted on a bipartisan basis a 4. 5 billion plan to advance 4g lte across our country. We finalized rules on a bipartisan basis to provide 2 billion to deliver fixed broadband to unserved americans. Weve eliminated outdated rules so that providers can spend on broadband deployment and rather than unnecessary paperwork. Established for the first time, the Advisory Committee that will, among other things, develop a model code for localities that are interested in broadband deployment fair and friendly policies. Second, promoting innovation. Another fcc priority is creating an innovationfriendly regulatory environment. Entrepreneurs are constantly developing new technologies and services. Too often, theyre unable to bring them to market for consumers because outdated rules or regulatory inertia stand in the way. Going forward, i want the fcc to facilitate rather than frustrate innovation. Last month, for example, we proposed to allow Television Broadcasters to fully enter the era, by adopting a nextgeneration television standard on a voluntary marketdriven basis. We also authorized the the first ever lte devices in the 5 gigahertz band and allowed wireless consumers to benefit from innovative free data offerings. Third, the fccs core mission is to serve the broader Public Interest and that means protecting consumers. For instance, all americans seem united in their disgust of robocalls. They are the number one Consumer Complaint the fcc year in and year out and no wonder. Every year, receive approximately 2. 4 billion robocalls. I teed up an aggressive agenda to target unlawful robocalls. The commission will vote on my proposal to allow carriers to block many spoofed robocalls. There is no reason why any legitimate caller should be spoofing numbers so they appear to be becoming from an invad li or unassigned phone number. We helped enable those who are responsible for the recent wave of bomb threats. I hope this measure among others helps brings the perpetrators to justice. Fourth and finally, process reform. As chairman, im working to make the fcc more open and more transparent. For example, i found it strange that the public wasnt allowed to see Commission Meeting items until after the commission voted. Generally wellconnected lobbyists were still in the know but Everyday Americans were in the dark. At long last, that is changing. Last month, i made public the full text of two draft items on the agenda as part of a pilot project. Things went so well, last week, i made public the draft text and fact sheets for all six items for the march meeting. Thats just one of the many ways i intend to make the fcc more open, accountable to the American People. I look forward to working with my colleagues to implement more process reforms in the time to come. Chairman thune, Ranking Members nelson, members of committee, thank you once again for holding this hearing. Look forward to answering your questions and continuing to work with you in the time to come. Thank you, commissioner pal. Chairman thune, Ranking Member nelson, members of the committee, good morning. It is an honor to once again appear to share my priorities for putting consumers first. During my more than seven years as an fcc commissioner, i have been an advocate for those whose voices far too often go unheard. This means looking out for our nations most vulnerable populations including families who should not have to give up food or Health Care Just to keep in touch with an incarcerated loved one. It also means enabling Broadband Access for those living at or below the poverty line so they will be able to apply for jobs, start a business or benefit from telehealth services. My vision for robust competition, affordable conductivity, reliable service, no surprise billing and an open internet for all informs what i would like to share with the committee today including several of the issues at the top of my priority list. When we talk about the principles underpinning an open internet, larger question must be asked. Will there be a cop on the beat many a broadband world . When we rightly talk about finite universal service dollars supporting just one provider in a remote area, we cannot rely on the disciplining forces of the competition. As a protector of consumers and enabler of choice in the broadband ecosystem. If not the fcc, who will consumers turn to when their broadband provider throttles their favorite website and what if there were a billing dispute, poor service, privacy concerns . These questions underlie the many reasons why i strongly supported the commissions to 15 open Internet Order and continue to believe it provides the best Legal Framework to protect consumers, innovators and entrepreneurs. Consistent with the ftcs privacy framework, i am proud of the steps taken by the fcc last october to empower consumers to make informed choices about their personal information and give broadband providers the flexibility to comply with the rules in a manner that works for their company. I am committed to do everything i can to ensure consumers have the tools to recollect their privacy in a broadband world. While much attention has been given to the commissions work on open internet and privacy, the inmate calling regime continues to be the greatest and most distressing form of injustice i have witnessed in my 18 years as an industry regulator. We cannot continue to turn our backs while a wife pays as much as 24 for a 15 minute call with her husband. I applaud the leadership of senators booker and duckworth on these issues and look forward to working with all interested offices to ensure that an inmates debt to society is not paid again and again by their sons and daughters, mothers and fathers and grandparents. More broadly, i applaud this congress focus on broadband infrastructure and access. The fccs universal service mandate can be described as a fourlegged stool with four different programs working in concert to close the Digital Divide. Collectively, these programs are enabling Rural Broadband deployment, improving Rural Health Care. Theyre bringing about connectivity to schools and libraries and its tackling the affordability gap. We cannot leave out any leg of the stool and expect it to continue to stand. This means we need action on reforming our Rural Health Care program. It also means being courageous about reforming the contributions system which is increasingly becoming a heavy burden on Senior Citizens who can ill afford to shoulder the burden of nationwide broadband deployment. Turning now to our media ownership rules, i believe the conversation must start by asking how we move the inclusion and opportunity needle. For those seeking to fulfill the dream of owning and operating broadcast properties. To this end, i support reinstating an fcc tax certificate program, working with the broadcast injury to start a Pilot Incubator Program to aid new entrance or disadvantaged businesses and increasing diversity both in front and behind the camera. Finally, we must focus on enhancing Consumer Protection. In a consumers report survey last year, over 172,000 subscribers of only those who were surveyed, only onethird of those say that they were very or completely satisfied with their home internet, pay tv or telephone service. As a commissioner at the Agency Responsible for overseeing the communications sector, this is highly alarming. We can and must do more. There are many more issues i hope the commission will tackle including streamlining of the broadband infrastructure deployment, telehealth and telemedicine, advancement of 5g and enhancing access to 911 service. My written testimony addresses many of these issues in greater detail, but once again, i thank you for the opportunity to present before you today and look forward to answering any questions you may have. Thank you, commissioner clyburn. Commissioner oreilly . Thank you, chairman thune, Ranking Member nelson, members of the committee to appear before this distinguished bead to address and discuss the important work occurring at the federal communications commission. I would like to raise a handful of issues to your attend and stand ready to answer any questions you may have. Last novembers election led to a change of leadership. Theres a breath of fresh air and new spirit of cooperation not present in the last commission. Let me acknowledge and applaud chairman pals immediate focus on improving our internal workings and procedures along a cause of mine. In approximately five short weeks, the new chairman has ushered in rear forms to improve the transparency and accountability of the commission from fixing nonexistent postadoption editorial privileges, publicly releasing text of the documents at the same time theyre shared with commissioners to ending the practice of providing outside parties with information before commissioners were in the loop. Process reform has been a necessary and important mark for the chairman. Hopefully theres more to come. I have a number of ideas for further reforms including changes to our delegated authority process and scope of information and data collections. On another topic, it is discouraging to admit a core dpun function of the commission, commissiongranted spectrum rights is not sufficiently achieved as it pertains to pilot radio stations. Today the squaders are infecting the radio band, including Emergency Communications and functional and Financial Stability of licensed radio stations. Thankfully, i believe the situation is fixable and preventable. It will certainly take sufficient enforcement commit and dill jaigence as well as Statutory Authority dedicated to address pirate radio. It is a high priority for me to ensure Broadband Access is reasonably available to all americans. If facilitate this, ive been involved in completing the remaining pieces of our highcost program, or connect america fund. At the same time, standing in the way of greater Internet Access nationwide, barriers imposed by state, local and tribal entities. Difficult permits and approval processes, attempts to extract enormous sums for tower siting and access to rightsand e efforts to establish governmentsponsored networks accompanied by fave bl laorable tax procedures. Many communities see the benefit of broadband deployment, there are bad actors that will rightly require preemptive measures by the commission. Lastly, having just returned from mobile World Congress in barcelona, i will share with you that a handful of my conversations with International Rep representatives suggest increased concern that International Governments via different forums continue to seek greater role in internet oversight and policy setting. I believe that the possible expansion of government interference in internet governance and activities remain one of the great ef threats to longterm sustainability and growth to the internet. Thank you again for the opportunity to testify. I look forward to your questions. Thank you. Thank you, commissioner oreilly. We have a lot of members here today, a lot of members who want to ask questions. Im going to ask if we as closely as possible adhere to the fiveminute rule to get everybody in and well try and enforce that more closely with the gavel. Mr. Chairman, former fcc chairman who served during president clintons term said that youre off to a very good start by all accounts, set a constructive tone with the agency and met with them all individually and reacting very positi positively. The office of Personnel Management measured global satisfaction, based on employee jackson with their jobs and organization plus their willingness to recommend their organization as a good place to work. The 2013 to 2015, global satisfaction at the fcc felt at more than any time, any other department or large agency in the entire federal government, a lot more. This was during a time when governmentwide global satisfaction actually increased. This is a very Disturbing Development because poor morale leads to ineffective organizations. I know this is something youve inherited but you never necessathels commit to doing your best to commit this very serious problem . Yes, mr. Chairman. Both because im a chairman and spent years as a former career staffer at the agency, i take this issue extremely seriously, committed to doing whatever we can to provide an atmosphere among the professional staff. Commission rules require the minimum quorum for the agency to fully function without limitations. Its been suggested you may have the ability to deny the fcc that quorum by leaving before your term expires at the end of june or refusing to attend open meeting. Will you commit today to serving out your full term and doing your part as a senateconfirmed member of the commission to ensure it maintains quorum . Mr. Chairman, what you read has never been suggested or h t hinted by me. I have no plan to do anything that would jeopardize the functionality of this institute that i love so much. Thank you. Thank pal, as part of the universal Service Reform in 2011, the fcc established a minimum price with the Television Companies this is whats known as the rate floor. Although the commission granted limited relief in 2014, the rate floor continued to increase every year and there appears to have been little effort to assess the impact the increases are having on consumers and Service Providers in Rural America. Do you have any concerns about the ever increasing rate floor and is this something you expect the commission will examine . Thank you for the question, mr. Chairman. I have substantial concerns about the rate floor. I was outspoken about it several years ago. It struck me as odd that under commission compulsion, rural carriers were forced to raise the rate, rural consumers who have less Median Income compared to urban citizens have to pay to get telephone service. Im happy to work with you and your staff as well to make sure we get it right. As you know, theres been a lot of discussion, shifting gears to another issue about the fccs broadband privacy order. And what were to happen if it suddenly went away. Would the fcc be obligated to Police Broadband Privacy practices under section 222 of the Communications Act . Thats correct. Carriers would have obligations under sixection 2 2 under sixection 2 22, state pol, Data Security and breach notification requirements. Commissioner oreilly, you said that youre comfortable with the fcc pushing communities to allow timely insulati lly in 5g equipment. What tools could be used to help 5g and other networks . Working with the chairman, we talked about good actors, steps theyve taken. Model code weve talked about. I do believe at some point we may have to get into use authority that has been provided by the congress propreempt some bad actor communities preventing broadband from being expanded throughout our nation. I think thats good for me for know. Ill hand it off to you, senator nelson and well keep this moving along. Mr. Chairman, im going to let our guys go first. Ill do cleanup. So ill flip it to senator shatz. I just want to make sure that all understand that erate, which was set up and it was supposed to be looked at in 2 8 2018, its so essential, brought ba broadband to our schools and libraries. I would expect the fcc not to make any major changes on this program for students until after you evaluate it pursuant to the way it was set up in 2018. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. And thank you, commissioner pal, congratulations on your renomination. Many of us were disapointed that the president pulled the renomination of Jessica Rosen wers l last week. The senate should have confirmed her to a term last year and im counting on everyone to honor their original commitment. I certainly hope that we can get back to the long tradition of p pairing these nominees so jessica and chairman pal can move through the senate floor quickly. This is a question for all the commissioners. Congratulations to all of you for overseeing a successful incentive auction. We all want faster internet coverage that will result from the auction. The three of you previously said that if the stations cannot repack in the 39month timeframe, they would not be forced off the air. Yes or no question for each of you, starting with commissioner clyburn. Would all of you support legislative efforts to make sure that that does not happen . I would support any effort that could complement our goal of ensuring that no consumer is negatively harmed. Thank you. Senator, i agree with commissioner clyburn. Depending how it read, i would agree. Thank you. Chairman pal, is the fcc going to review the at t time warner merger . Senator, as i understand how the parties structured the transartran transaction, there is no license that would be transferred from one party it the other. Insofar as that remains the case, my belief is the fcc would not have the Legal Authority to review that transaction. Have you asked the fcc staff to conduct an independent legal analysis to confirm the fcc has no role . I have not at the current time. Would you be willing to do so and share it with the committee . I would be maep happy to do senator. Thank you. Question of Net Neutrality in the context of this merger, if you move guaforward with the rel of the open Internet Order and we fail to pass legislation and yet the comcast merger had Net Neutrality in it, how do we ensure a level Playing Field with the at t merger not having any conditions either in rural or as a condition of the approval of the merger and one of its major competitors will still be bound by that original requirement . Senator, there are a number of hypotheticals in there i need to sort out, but i think the basic answer is that we want to act within our authority, of course, to protect the Public Interest. And in the context of a transaction, that simply depends on whether or not the transfer of a license is in the Public Interest, with respect to transactions passed, it involves the question of the enforcement of conditions that were agreed upon by prior commissions. And in the general rulemaking process, of course, there are other factors that go into the analysis. I cant give you a simple answer. The Practical Impact will be there are two giants, one has to abide by Net Neutrality and one doesnt. Right. Chairman pai, i wanted to follow up on a private conversation that we had, regarding the commission, itself. And something ive talked to actually all three of you about. In one of your previous oversight hearings you criticized the previous chairman for the large number of party line votes under his tenure and said it wasnt always this way, it was once understood that no Political Party had a monopoly on wisdom, and we recognize the Communications Issues arent necessarily partisan issues. And yet for first two issues you tackled, it has been two to one. I understand that you have a different perspective and youre in the business of implementing your point of view. But what assurances can you give the committee, the telecommunications community, the commission itself, its staff, your democratic commissioner of your commitment to try to get to 50 votes whenever possible . Thank you for the question, senator. I very much appreciate your perspective. The top priority that i listed in my testimony today and my comments to the career staff and my second day in office was that i wanted to close the Digital Divide. And two of the topics that were sitting on the shelf for a while involve the Mobility Fund, Wireless Service to parts of the country that didnt have it and the connect america fund, giving fixed broadband options to underserved americans. My explicit directions to my staff and the bureau were to work with commissioner clyburn, hear her out and accommodate her concerns. Ill let her speak for herself, i would like to think the end product which we validated on february 23rd was a bipartisan one that will deliver Digital Opportunity to millions of americans. In terms of process reform as well, she suggested, well, i understand, ajit, you want to push out these items once we tee them up for Commission Consideration in the meeting. What about doing onepage fact sheet to make it easier for people to understand it . I said thats right. Lets do it. I implemented it immediately. Thats the spirit i want to carry with me throughout the chairmanship to the best ability that i have. Thank you very much. Thank you, senator shatz. Senator wicker . Thank you very much. And thank you all for your testimony. Chairman pai, lets talk about bringing broadband to economically challenged areas. This is something that commissioner clyburn emphasized in her prepared testimony. You were successful in moving forward two major universal service fund items including phase two of the Mobility Fund. These will undoubtedly help bring Broadband Services to rural and hard to reach areas. You have four major initiatives in this regard, i understand. So tell us about your plan to emphasize areas where average Household Income falls below 75 of the national median, making requiring states and localities to have deploymentfriendly policies, i think you used that term in your testimony, also, and tell about tax incentives and zones that you might designate for the use of tax credits. Thank you, senator, for the question. This is something im passionate about. I outlined in september a what i hoped would be a bipartisan blueprint for action regardless of who assumed leadership of the commission precisely because i thought these ideas knew no partisan angle or party affiliation. My proposal for congress to give us the authority to set up what i called gigabit opportunity zones. The idea here is you would create a Geographic Area as small as a city block in an urban environment, or as large as a rural county. In which the Median Income of citizens within that area was 75 or less of the National Average income. And the idea would be that to provide tax incentives to providers to build out in those areas and part of that also would be a requirement that states and localities adopt broadbandfriendly policies to the deployment was eased in terms of the access to rights of way and pull attachments and the like. Additionally, to make sure that entrepreneurs can take advantage of those networks, my idea was to provide a some relief for the employer side of the payroll taxes for new companies that want to set up businesses in those areas. That way people who live in those areas who want to create jobs in those areas would have a greater incentive to do so. It was drawn from the spirit of former secretary john kemp at the housing and urban development and my thinking was, why dont we update for the 21st century his idea of about enterprise zones and this could give people who are in poverty, dont have Economic Opportunity greater chance to achieve prosperity in the digital era. And im hopeful working with members of kacongress that we c do that. This is going to require legislation. Thats correct, sir. And commissioner clyburn, what do you think about such legislation . If such legislation allows us to do what we do best, if such legislation also recognizes that affordability is a factor when it comes to adoption of services, so we look at all of the universal principles and tools in our arsenal, i think it would be a good series of steps forward in terms of bridging those gaps that currently exist. But affordability has to be a part of the conversation. Chairman pai, commissioner clyburn says there is an affordability gap. Do you agree with this and what would you do about it . I do agree, which is part of the reason and the response that chairman thune expressed so much concern about the rate floor. Because that actually involves the fcc mandate increasing the rates that rural customers have to pay. We need to do more to ensure consumers have competition choice and Affordable Access to the internet. Thats something im committed to working with her and you about. The distinguished Ranking Member wants to the commission to be proconsumer. I think we all agree with that. It seems to me that reversing the Net Neutrality rule with regard to free data and zero rating has turned out to be pro consumer in that not long after you terminated the investigation into these practices we saw a series of new proconsumer unlimited data offerings coming to the market. Do you think they that that new flood of opportunities came as a direct result of your action in this regard . Senator, i dont know if it was a direct result, but i do think it simply confirmed the wisdom of our approach, which is to recognize it is a highly competitive marketplace and that wireless carriers have a strong incentive to compete for the consumers attention and as a result now all four National Wireless carriers are offering new or expanded unlimited data plans. Thats a great thing for consumers. The public really liked that . Correct, sir. At least so far. Thank you very much. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator wicker. Senator booker . Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. Just on the point that was being made, before i get into my questioning, i want to reaffirm i have a firm commitment, unwavering commitment to the ideals of Net Neutrality and 2015 fcc Net Neutrality rules put into place which are now the law of the land, they were upheld now in court and a lot of doom and gloom was predicted if this was to happen, but clearly the skys not fallen, businesses, frankly, are continue to innovate in this space. Were seeing a lot of very positive results and im really hoping that theres a commitment to Net Neutrality here not just in the committee, but also among t st the commissioners. Obviously well have time to talk about that. I just want to jump into really another area of bipartisan encouragement, just this idea to Broadband Access. Which is i think so important when for, wh for when it comes to creating robust access to education, to telehealth, you name it, this, to me, is something of great urgency. As most people know, i have a big concern about the way the criminal Justice System is operating that has profoundly become a tool to create disparities in our country and these disparities are stunning just, for example, theres in difference between blacks and whites in america for using drugs, or even selling drugs but africanamericans are about 3. 7 times more likely to be arrested for those nonviolent drug crimes. As a result of that, you have situations like my state where africanamericans are 14 of the states population with over 60 of the prison population. Our prisons are full of people, disproportionately people of color. Disproportionately poor people in general, disproportionately people with Mental Health challenges, victims of sexual abuse, and im just fiercely committed to this idea of trying to make our society fairer for all americans, equal justice under the law and also to empower people who are affected by the prison population by mass incarceration problem in america so when theyre paying their debt to society, they can come out and be successful. All the data is showing that when people are in prison and the federal wardens i sat and met with talk about the urgency to keep a robust connection to family ties. Thats why ive been very committed to trying to do everything to make that robust. We have 2. 7 million children who right now are separated from an incarcerated parent. Theyre facing challenges on growing up as well and those links and those connections are vital for the children, for the families, and for the rehabilitation of a person who is incarcerated. And so this issue of Affordable Access to calls is not just about, hey, a guy in prison making a call, this goes fundamentally to a core priority that all of us have right and left to making sure we drive down recidivism rates and support families. Video visitation is on the rise, which is, again, something that ive talked to numerous wardens who think and people in the bureau of prisons who think this is strong. Commissioner clyburn, can you just let me know that if the fcc loses this case that right now is in court, what are the potential consequences for the issues that im passionate with and i know people on both sides of the aisle are passionate with. I have one word for that, it would be devastating. It would set us back in terms of the efforts that we have attempted to do in terms of closing that gap to keeping families together, to ensure that more than 39 of the population impacted, that they can keep in touch. The number hovers around 38 or 39 of people keeping in touch because they cant afford to. And so where it is affordable, we have seen the conversations spike, and we have seen families when there are 700,000 inmates that are released back into the society every year. And if the majority of them go home as strangers because they didnt have the opportunity to speak, then by the time five years rolls around, 75 of them are back in. This is a family issue, this is a criminal justice issue. It cannot be decoupled. And providing just reasonable and fair rates to families pays dividends to all of us. And ill ask some other questions i had about the lifeline broadband provider issues that ive written to you about and hope we can talk about. I would love for you in the last seconds i have to respond to commissioner clyburns sense of urgency as well as mine. Thank you for the questions. I said when the fcc teed up this proceeding that it took too long, the petitioner should not have had to wait almost a decade for the fcc to finally heed their call. I also suggested early on that i thought this marketplace was broken. This is not a normally functioning marketplace with the wireless marketplace we just discussed and the exchange with senator wicker and so i agree that the commission has authority to adopt a certain rate cap for interstate rates and authority to regulate ancillary fees and sub did area issues. There is a question that the d. C. Circuit is highlighted in terms of the stays of the various orders of the fcc has had, and were working through those. My commitment to you regardless of how the case goes is that we want to make sure that the fcc does everything within its Legal Authority to fix this problem and we would be happy to work with you on that. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator booker. Senator fischer . Thank you, mr. Chairman, and thank you to all of the members of the panel for the work that you did last year on the rate of return reform orders. I have heard from a number of nebraska companies who opted into the cost model and they were pleased with the results and i appreciate your efforts on that. I continue, though, to hear concerns from nebraska carriers that they are not permitted to get universal Service Support if they provide stand alone Broadband Service or that they must charge their customers hundreds of dollars a month to recover their cost for standalone broadband. So, mr. Chairman, do you have any thoughts on ways we can solve this problem so that rural customers have the option to buy affordable standalone Broadband Service . Thank you for the question, senator. Ive seen the promise of Standalone Service for myself in places like diller, nebraska. I very much appreciate it. Also it feeds into the affordability question we were just talking about a little bit earlier. This is precisely the reason why two years ago i put on the table a very simple public onepage plan to allow rural carriers to offer standalone Broadband Service. And my concern with the rate of return reform last year is that for carriers to be able to calculate how much support they would get for Standalone Service, they have to jump through 11 different hoops. Theyre quite technical and complicated. At the end of the day, they dont necessarily yield enough funding to make standalone Broadband Service either a viable proposition for them to offer or for consumers to acc t accept. My commitment to you, working with you and others who are interested in this topic to make sure that we make this regulatory system more streamline, more efficient to allow consumers to offer Standalone Service. Thank you. Commissioner oreilly . Im a little defensive because i spent a great deal of time on rate of return issues. And you have been to nebraska. I have. Many of the states. To the point, i appreciate the desire to be simplified, when we talk to and worked with closely the carriers, they preferred a model that wasnt as simplified. We had a choice to go on direction and they would have been much easier and preferred another model we were able to come to agreement about. Your point is well taken in terms of is it available, todays standalone broadband. Thats in the hands of the carriers, themselves. I know in meeting not with your state but in other states, the carriers said it doesnt matter if you pass this, im never going to split off the offering of voice product from standalone broadband. Im making too much money off that. But i have carriers who want to be able to offer that standalone Broadband Service. And really not be penalized for it. Right, they are provided the subsidies that under the mechanisms that we design so they are not penalized for offering that product compared to a bundled product today. As long as we can make sure that customers, the consumers out there in rural areas, have that available to them without it costing hundreds of dollars a month. Right, we had to find the right price point of how much we could afford to subsidize in terms of our overall budget. That was an agreement we came with all the carriers and found what we found was a rather heavy happy place. Okay. Commissioner pai, also you mentioned streamlining. And i appreciate your willingness to streamline regulations and processes so that we can encourage that innovation. Last week we had a full Committee Hearing on infrastructure deployment and i asked Shirley Bloomfield about the broadband funds maintained by the fcc and whether its necessary to maintain the number of programs that are out there. Not just under you folks, but the department of commerce, department of ag, there is a lot of funding that is available. What im hoping to do is look at encouraging broadband deployment, but also we shouldnt have to duplicate efforts. And so do you think that we can streamline programs that are out there, whether it is with the fcc or other agencies, so that we can avoid the duplication of that funding and make sure we can have existing networks that are needed but also not overbilled . Thanks for the question, senator. I dont presuppose to Tell Congress how it should structure all the programs, but i do think it would be helpful to unify them or streamline them to some extent. I recall early on in my tenure, doing a town hall meeting in parsons, kansas, my hometown, with senator moran, a number of carriers told us, on one hand, we have a line of credit that is outstanding from the department of agriculture. Were not taking it because the fcc is telling us, if we do, there are going to be significant regulatory restrictions on how we spend it and the like. It occurred to me that if we had a unified system that gave greater clarity to the recipients, allow congress to better oversee how were spending that money, it could be better for everybody at the end of the day. I hope thats something that congress will take up. Thank you very much. Thank you, mr. Chair. Thank you, senator fischer. Senator udall . Thank you very much, chairman thune. And congratulations, chairman pai, on becoming chairman. Thank you, senator. While we may disagree on some issues such as Net Neutrality, i think we have a shared goal of extending modern Communications Access to all americans. That must include native americans who face a terrible Digital Divide on tribal lands and i know commissioner clyburn has seen that firsthand in my state. Today i want to ask you about the president s open hostility toward Media Outlets that many of those Media Outlets have business before the fcc and how you intend to lead the fcc in this climate. This would this could directly affect matters before your agency, and the First Amendment issues that you have been very outspoken on. Your official fcc biography states youve been an outspoken defender of First Amendment freedoms, it described your advocacy in 2014 that helps scrap a proposed study of barriers to entry into the media mark mark marketplace. And in an oped you wrote and i quote, the government has no place pressuring media organizations and covering certain stories, end quote. In response to an interview question last year, about whether there is a, quote, a role for the fcc to play in keeping the political elite from trying to suppress trump supporters, you replied, certainly i think one aspect of it is the dprks cy using the bully pulpit that it has to continue advocating for free speech. And you added and i quote, i would hope whoever the president is, americans would return to the tradition that weve had of respectful and robust public debate. Thats something becoming increasingly rare. Today President Trump is using bully tactics to try to intimidate the media. Hes even declared certain Media Outlets and i quote, he called Media Outlets the enemy of the American People. His press secretary, sean spicer, took the unusual step of barring some journalists from attending his daily press briefings. Chairman pai, many news organizations or their Parent Companies have business dealings with the fcc, from regulatory matters to potential merger reviews. So i would like to ask you a couple of questions that i think can be answered with a simple yes or no. Do you agree with President Trump that the media is the enemy of the American People . Senator, i dont want to wade into the larger political business. Ill simply reaffirm the quotes you offered from last year and the year before. So you refuse to answer that . No, senator, i media being the enemy of the American People . I believe that every american enjoys the First Amendment protections guaranteed by the constitution. And when you met with President Trump in the oval office, and at trump tower, did you discuss any issues related to the media . Senator, i will leave the details of those conversations to the white house to determine. Im not at liberty to say. And did you discuss any specific company that interacts with the fcc . Again, senator, i cant comment on the conversations ive had with the president. I would leave that to the white house to disclose. Will the fcc operate independently of the white house . Absolutely, sir. And will you resist any attempt by the white house to use the fcc to intimidate news organizations . Well, senator, i have said consistently including just last week in an International Forum to the regulators and companies of the world that we are an independent agency, and for any matter that is placed before me, i will take a sober look at the facts based on the papers submitted by interested parties, i will render a decision based on the law and the precedence it applied to those facts and make a determination based on what i and my colleagues think is in the Public Interest. White house chief strategist steve bannon told an interviewer in january and i quote, the media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for a while. Do you agree with him that the media should keep its mouth shut . Senator, again, im not going to wade into the larger political debates beyond the fccs would you as an fcc commissioner make a comment like that to the media about them keeping their mouth shut . Senator, i certainly have not made comments like that. Ive heard it at home every now and then when i dont discharge my personal responsibilities, but no, i have not said things like that. The white house the wall street journal recently reported that the president s soninlaw, jared kushner, raised concerns with the time warner executive about cnns coverage of President Trump. The article quotes and notes that time warner owns cnn and has a merger pending potential antitrust review. So have you had any discussions with or contacts with anyone in the Trump Administration about cnn or any other news organizations . Senator, no, ive not had any conversations with him or anyone else in the white house about that transaction. And will you immediately report to this committee if anyone from the white house contacts you or your staff about taking any favorable or negative action regarding any media or Communications Business . Senator, i will commit to following all the appropriate protocols and ethical requirements that apply to that sort of conversation. Thank you very much. Senator udall. Senator moran . Chairman, thank you. Chairman pai and commissioner orielly, commissioner clyburn, thank you very much for joining us. I use this as a moment to compliment all three of you. I appreciate the relationship we had with you and your staff. The open and receptive way in which we work together. I thank you for your Public Service, commissioners. And commissioner pai, id like to thank you for your comments in your opening moments of your presentation today. I appreciate the heartfelt nature, shocking occurrence in our state, and something that we highly, highly deploy. My first visit to as i returned to washington, d. C. , after that was to the embassy of india to express the concerns that we wanted to have with the families, those who came here from india and to express the belief that kansans are warm and welcoming people. I thank you for your comments today and express my pride and your and other Indian American success and particularly Indian Americans from kansas success. Thank you, senator. Couple of quick questions that i would like to raise, i know my colleague, senator shatz, raised the topic of repack. I guess he solicited from you and received your commitment to work with him and i assume that includes the rest of us on the committee should a repack alteration be necessary. Let me ask a couple of more specific questions about that. Did you believe that the commission adequately assessed the size and scope of the repack when it first was formulated when the Commission First formulated its transition plan . Thank you for the question, senator. I did have some concerns about the agencys course, but a lot of decisions have already been made and so at this point, our goal is to work to ensure a smooth and Successful Transition and part of that involves in the leadup to the end of the auction which is going to be coming up soon, putting out a scheduling public notice, outlines the steps. Working with broadcasters to get cost estimates back and other steps like that. So stay tuned as the best answer i can give you. We want to make sure we work with everybody involved. When will you know if money set aside for the repack is sufficient . We anticipate that three months after the close of the incentive auction, well be getting cost estimates from all broadcasters. At that point, our task force which has done a tremendous job, will be able to take stock, find out how much money they estimate its going to be. If that number is within the 1. 75 billion that congress allocated for us for the repack, then we will take the appropriate action. And when will you know if the 39 month time period established by your predecessor is sufficient . That will depend in part upon when the auction closes, and there is some petitions for reconsideration that are pending that raise some questions about that as well. Were going to take us were going to go where the facts take us and were not sure what the exactly the timeframe will be for that auction to close. To switch topics, the Mobility Fund phase two, congratulations on getting an order adopted for that fund. Im pleased to see were moving forward. I understand that the order recognizes there is a need for a robust challenge process. I agree. Weve had this conversation several times before about coverage maps and the challenges, their fallacy. Can you explain how that auction im sorry, a challenge would process, would actually operate . Thanks for the question, senator. First and foremost, the congratulations and the credit are due to my colleagues sitting alongside me working in good faith to put a product on the table that i think will benefit the American People. In terms of the challenge process, this was inspired by a drive i took last summer, or last fall, rather, from wichita to des moines. Struck by the fact that in a lot of places the fcc might suggest we had coverage and we didnt in fact. We want to make sure this challenge process is robust, gives the American People and fcc Accurate Information about where consumers are covered and where theyre not. Thats one of the issues we teed up in the Mobility Fund document we put out was to figure out the best way to ensure that that data is accurate. If its if the map is accurate, great. If not, we want to make sure we act on the basis of firm and accurate data. Let me ask commissioner clyburn and commissioner orielly if they have any comments they would like to make in regard to either of the questions that ive that have been answered by chairman pai. As you know, i have have been pushing for the next phase of a moen Mobility Fund for some time and im happy to see its conclusion. When it comes to the challenge process, that is something that i am very passionate about also. I want to make sure that those who are challenging are not disadvantaged, that they have a means of affordably and open and transparent manner, being able to say, no, this is not the case. So i am very proud of this, very open and interactive process and look forward to continuing to work with the parties to make sure that we have accuracy and a process that will enable us to meet our goals. Thank you. I agree with my colleagues. I pushed for inclusion of an improved challenge process knowing what it needed to improve our mapping, and back to your questions on the repack and pieces to those, i said i would be the first one to come to congress if additional funding was necessary, and in terms of the timing as well. I am i think its a little premature to get to that point. Your question is when will we get to there, i think were still months away from there. Thank you, all three. Im pleased to see were having a conversation by three commissioners, not the normal dialogue between two. So its good to have this set of witnesses here. Ive also been in a room with senator thune and i recognize that sometimes i never get asked a question, either. So i wanted to make sure you get the opportunity to make your record known. I think the senators time has expired. Thank you, senator moran. Senator peters . Thank you, mr. Chairman. And thank you to each of the commissioners for your Public Service and we appreciate having you here today and appreciate your openness to discuss these important issues. Chairman pai, you have said that the kmis mucommission must, i quote, commit its to being a truly independent agency that makes decisions based on facts and law which i certainly appreciate you making that comment. And i know that you are aware that in september of 2015, chairman thune, Ranking Member nelson, senators booker, rubio, mccaskill and i sent letters to the fcc, the d. O. T. And ntia endorsing a plan for the joint testing of two proposals for spectrum sharing in the 5. 9 gigahertz band and i understand that or i know that testing is currently under way now. This band is vitally important to the automotive safety systems, which will dramatically decrease highway deaths and will be a major advance when it is fully deployed. So in keeping with your commitment to transparency, and letting the data drive the policy, can you commit to making public all of the data that is collected by the fcc during the bench and field testing phase . Senator, i would be happy to do so with the caveat that to the extent there is confidential or trade secret or other law enforcement, for example, information that might otherwise be revealed. We would be happy to make public whatever we can. Im not sure there is. But i want to make sure that we abide by whatever rules and regulations apply to sensitive information. I understand that. Everything else will be made public . Well ill be happy to take a look at that. Im new to this issue as well. We would be happy to do whatever we can to make it public. Great. So i would ask that you commit today that the commissions final determination on spectrum sharing in the 5. 9 gigahertz band will be based on sound Engineering Data which will undergo rigorous and open review. Others will be able to fully review the decision that was made. Any action that we take in this area, any area, has to be based on a firm, factual foundation. Great. What is your target date for making a final determination on spectrum sharing . Do you have a date now . We dont yet. Im scheduled to sit down with our office of engineering and technology, the other experts at the agency and try to discuss some issues and id be happy to get back to you if thats okay with more specific time frame. Im unable to give a date at this point. Fair enough. I appreciate if you can contact my office as something were obviously following very closely and would love to have that dialogue with you. Absolutely. What has been the commissions experience in coordinating with dot and ntia during the transition to the new administration, that coordination will be essential for this process. Thats a good question. We are already in the process of doing outreach to both the department of transportation and to ntia and my commitment and my instruction to our staff was to make sure that we are plugged in as we can be to make sure that the one agency is not acting to the exclusion of any other and so we want this to be an open and cooperative dialogue moving forward. I appreciate that. Also, chairman pai, i want to pick up on senator morans discussion and questions related to 477 data which will be critical for us to make sure that our rural areas actually get service. We have a big issue in michigan if you look at who may qualify even though we have rural areas that quite frankly simply dont have service, but it appears as if they do, which is not reality. It really goes to the heart of the issue which is beyond the challenge process, which we want to make sure will be vigorous and fully open. But we really have to change the maps. They are simply not accurate as far as what i am hearing and have been told. How are we going to go in and fundamentally make sure we have good data because it is going to be on just the Mobility Fund phase two, which is important, but other issues as well that will arise. We need to have good data or we cant make good decisions. I couldnt agree more with the last sentence you expressed. I think it is critical not just for Mobility Fund, but for any program the fcc administers to make sure that our data is accurate. If you see a map, it suggests the up is green when it is not it is clearly not. Having just come back from there. We want to make sure we capture accurately the realities on the ground and thats part of what were hoping to iron out in this challenge process, but even more generally, with respect to 477, make sure the information were getting is correct. And thats one of the ive got to this committee and to our own professional staff by going forward. I would like to work closely with you on that as well, it is of critical importance to many parts of my state and look forward to your commitment to it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, senator peters, senator young. Thank you, chairman. I want to thank the commissioners for all this time were spending with us today. Im a new member of this committee. I thought i would very quickly lay out some operating principles that i intend to follow as i interact with the fcc. Before i do that, just know that i reviewed the fcc strategic goals promoting economic growth, protecting Public Interest goals, making Networks Work for everyone, i think implied in those goals is is just a general effort to make sure that you serve the broader Public Interest. With that spirit in mind, im looking to partner with all of you, to promote the following. Private sector innovation, transparency at the fcc, bottom up solutions as opposed to d. C. Driven policies and sustainable and wherever possible bipartisan policies that give our job creators the certainty that they length about process reforms that you believe are important to create an efficient, transparent and effective fcc. I couldnt agree more. Process is policy so frequently. I would like for you to give more specificity to what you laid out in your testimony. Ive long been a champion of congress reasserting its role with respect to reviewing major regulations, and making sure what we have in place is still relevant, serves the broader Public Interest. Why do you believe it is important to create a new bureau of economics within the fcc. And are there other bureaus within the fcc that you believe should be consolidated perhaps to better reflect regulated industries . So i appreciate the question and put forward a number of different process reform ideas, most dealing with the internal workings of the three of us remaining. But your point gets to the question of cost benefit analysis. Something that the commission has not done. Even though previous chairman have promised to do so. I believe in cost benefit analysis. If you read items as i read every item that i vote on, if you read them, youll see the cost benefit analysis is sorely lacking. They do some on the cost, but very little benefit is quantified. Even though it can be difficult, it should be done. And so i had difficulty with our current structure in that the economists are scattered throughout the different bureaus today. There is no continuality between the different items you get. One may be better than the other. Another will be completely lacking. There may be a sentence or two about cost benefit analysis. And it always comes with the same form. The benefits are large, and the costs are whatever they are, but theyre always exceeded by the benefits so we have to go forward on this item. That is not quantifiable. You also discussed in your testimony, the need to reform internal processes. What additional authorities do you require, if any, to make this sort of reforms that you think are necessary. Thanks for the question. I think we have a lot of tools in the toolbox under sections 4 and 5 of the Communications Act. We do have the authority to organize ourselves to promote efficiency and administration. There are some things that lie within congress purview and considering for example a process reform of its own. Reforms of the sunshine act to allow the three of us to collaborate, which we cannot currently do without running afoul of restrictions. And consolidated reporting so that instead of sending up a bunch of reports that consume a lot of staff resources, very few people read, we provide you a unified product that would better enable you to discharge your legislative responsibilities. Thank you. I want to commend you on your efforts to close the Digital Divide and that of other commissioners and look forward to working together on that effort as a matter of followup here. I would like to ask you, seeing as a president , has proposed, we pass a major infrastructure package at some point, in the fairly near term. What lessons have you learned about broadband buildout and if congress were to appropriate additional funds, do you have thoughts where you can get the most bang for the buck . I think the biggest lesson ive learned is that america is a very challenging place in some cases to deploy broadband. The Business Case for the private sector wont necessarily be there, and so we need to think creatively in terms of the stewardship of federal funds under our administration, modernizing our regulations to ease that Business Case, and to encourage others as states and localities to adopt broadband friendly policies. Those three tools i think are things that we can and should be implementing. With respect to the infrastructure plan, i hope that with due respect to the white house and this body, that Digital Infrastructure is it is one of the first things that people mention is that they might leave their small town or not have the opportunities that others have because they dont have Internet Access. Thats something im committed to solving and to the extent that congress can help us solve it, that would be terrific. Thank you. I yield back. Thank you, senator young. Next up is senator cortez matso. It is a pleasure to meet all three of you. I look forward to working with you. Chairman pai, congratulations on your renomination. I look forward to an opportunity to sitting down with you and talking a little bit more about the issues were discussing today and some others as well. Thank you, senator. Let me start off, im really interested in a couple of things, Rural Broadband, we have many areas that rural. One thing that concerns me is the hiring freeze that the Current Administration instituted. From your perspective, chairman pai, what impacts have you seen or felt from the white houses hiring freeze to your agency . First, senator, to be honest, we have been so busy producing work product for the American People that i havent had a chance to talk it our Human Resources and other administrative experts to figure out what we havent been able to do. What i can say is were making were making progress on some of our core priorities using the terrific staff that we have got thus far. And how many years have you been serving as commissioner already . Ive been a commissioner from 2012 to january of this year and it was a staffer for almost four years before that. Can you assure me the merger reviews or legal challenges arent being impacted by the need to hire staff . Can you repeat the question . Can you assure me your merger reviews by your agency or legal challenges are not being impacted by the need to hire legal staff . Yes. Staff in general . Yes, senator. Are there positions that to your knowledge that are vacant currently in the office of Inspector General . I cant recall if i believe there are a few in the office of Inspector General. I know also with the field offices there are four agent positions. Can you provide to me in writing answers to the questions with respect to the hiring freeze, the impact and where theyre located throughout your agency, that would be helpful. I would be more than happy to do that. Thank you very much. Commissioner orielly, i know that the fcc cybersecurity and Communications Reliability division works with the Communications Industry to develop and implement improvements that help ensure the reliability, redundancy and security of the Nations Communications infrastructure. What else specifically can the fcc be doing to aid in the concern and challenge of cybersecurity and Identity Theft . So, i want to be careful here, our district does a good job in providing recommendations and improving the relationships they have with the providers that we oversee. Our Statutory Authority is relatively limited in the Data Security space, something that would be open to if congress were to change those lines of jurisdiction. There are other agencies that providers do interact with and operate in terms of this Data Security, pieces of that nature. So limited to no authority right now to i think it is extremely limited in terms of the Data Security. If congress were to change that, i would implement whatever changes they sought. Thank you. In getting back to expanding broadband, we had discussions on this, im interested particularly in the access and siding on public and tribal lands and im aware of these concerns, particularly in the state of nevada, where over 80 of the lands are owned by the federal government. And chairman pai, your bio page on the fcc website references your regulatory philosophy is we need to streamline the process for deploying Wireless Infrastructure. And your empowerment agenda includes that the federal government should speed the deployment of broadband on federal lands which often impacts our most Rural Communities by adopting shot clocks for action, minimizing fees and mapping federal assets among other steps. Can you please explain to me what we can do to dress these challenges and also what commitment you can make to help me get access to more nevadaens impacted by some of the hurdles . Ill start with the last part of your question first, which is that youve got my hearty commitment to work with you to make sure that all nevadaens, but especially rural nevadaens have access to Digital Infrastructure. I saw that for myself on the outskirts of reno, fixed wireless provider providing high speed connectivity to the nascent tesla factory out there. It was incredible what they were able to do in challenging environments with respect to Wireless Connectivity and wireless and the like. With how we can encourage deployment, i do think we need to speed the ability of providers to deploy on federal lands. Currently it takes twice as long if you want to get a permit on federal land as it does on private land. We want to make sure to the extent were talking about Wireless Infrastructure, that the Wireless Infrastructure of the future, the small cells, distributed, arent subject is to the same onerous requirements that would save a couple hundred foot cell tower. Those networks will require smaller infrastructure. We want to make sure we work with all stake holders to ensure wireline infrastructure is more easily deployed. For example, carson city, one of the topics we talked about was you dig once. Makes it a lot more sense. If youre going to dig up a road as part of a federal transportation project, why not also install at the same time the conduit that allows any provider, small, big, whoever, to be able to lay the fiber and provide a competitive alternative to consumers. Im glad you said that. I dont mean to interrupt. I think what youre saying is so important. One of the areas id like to see, i hope this is something that you could take on, would be establishing or dedicating efforts to an Interagency Working Group of partners to tackle these challenges. I heard a lot of discussion about, yes, it is happening and we have challenges, but no action to try to actually get something done. Is that something you would be dedicated to helping us with in nevada and any other state that has similar challenges . Absolutely. It is almost frankly, in are way with the direction with what i called my broadband deployment Advisory Committee. Thank you. Thank you very much. I look forward to working with all of you. Senator cortez matso, you were having a conversation about the mobile now bill. Lets get that to congress. That would be a good place to start. Senator caputo is up next. Welcome to our witnesses who ive had the opportunity to personally speak with all of you and i appreciate your service. Chairman pai, i appreciate you coming to West Virginia and walking the catwalk at the new river gorge bridge. I look forward to seeing you scale that, rather than walk it. Thats a good laugh. No more bejesus left to be scared out of. Thanks. I appreciate the conversations that we had. I know you had a lot of conversations with folks about Rural America and i really appreciate your digital empowerment agenda. I appreciate the explanation you gave earlier, i will not take the opportunity to ask you for that. I with like to know in terms of best practices for states youve mentioned this, in terms of citing and power pole siting and dig once and all those kinds of things, do you as a fcc chair plan to come out with some sort of recommended state initiatives that would help us, because you saw when we were in Fayette County how difficult it is even in a small state like ours. Absolutely. That experience really informs a lot of the decisions that were making now. I do think that we need to have a set of best practices that would enable states and localities to move forward if they want to allow citizens to have Digital Access and one of the things that we are going to charge the broadband deployment Advisory Committee with is creating a model code so that any jurisdiction can take these policies off the shelf without having it hire people to study the issues and et cetera and be able to say we want to deploy broadband. We know theyre going to be in the consumer interest. And lets move forward with those. States dont have the expertise and a lot of times perceive to have many more barriers than what really exist. I appreciate that. Commissioner clyburn, thank you for coming to morgantown, and visiting the press and memorial hospital. You were on your connecting communities tour. What were your two topline takeaways from that tour that you included West Virginia in . What would you say . Broadband and more broadband. I like that. So when we got a chance to come off the mountain after i got my sanity back, if you have been up with her staffer, you will need medical attention, one of the things that i saw on this 11 state tour, that included your beautiful state is that every single challenge that we had in america can be improved and enhanced by broadband connectivity. As we know, every Single Community is different, every Single Community has, you know, they have has its challenges, and part of the challenge is that the Business Case cannot always be made. So you need entities like ours. You need ntia, you need rus, you need all of us to come together and say what can we do in a very targeted manner to bring connectivity to these regions. So thats what thats the takeaway, thats what i hear when i go everywhere, we need connectivity to make sure as you mentioned, mr. Chairman, you really do not have to move. You should not have to relocate in order to thrive and survive and to and to be productive in communities. Thats what were all about. Thank you. Thank you. I would be remiss if i didnt mention as a force of reinforcement we dont terrorize people when they come to West Virginia. It is rather hilley there. I do have a new role, mr. Chairman, as chair of the Financial Services general government appropriations subcommittee which appropriates for the fcc. So in case you didnt know, i thought i would bring that up. So i wont bring up my Mental Health issues. Okay, thank you. Mr. Orielly, one thing we talked about in my office was this white space issue that i think could hold some great promise in Rural America. And i think there has been some discussions on the regulatory space around white space and simplifying and making it easier, more clarified for some of the providers. Could you talk about that briefly . Absolutely. As we talked about in your office, the opportunity of the space between Television Channels within a market that can be used for unlicensed purposes, wifi and this Committee Looked at this issue for a long time. Were further down the road, which is very good. The software, some of the technology, has been a little lacking than i would have liked and we should be further along. But i think it has improved and the commission made a number of changes in the last two years to improve the detectability to make sure there arent false positives. What you can do with that, and part them together with a number of Different Companies that operate in unlicensed band is remarkable, theyre able to do small slivers and able to bring connectivity to bring the internet of things available and wearable and all things that come from that. I would note that West Virginia university is in partnership with air dot u using this white space for to connect their two campuses and make sure that other students are always connected as theyre moving back and forth between the campuses. Thank you, all, very much. Thank you, senator caputo. Maybe the senator from West Virginia will have to share with the other members of the committee what it is that shes done to the fcc commissioners to make them so agreeable. Next up is senator klobuchar. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. Thank you to the three commissioners and all the work you do. Congratulations, chairman pai. And i know this was raised earlier, but we really need as you all know to have a full slate of commissioners and i hope the president will renominate Jessica Rosenworcel as i always note not only is she really smart, but i like she has a name harder to pronounce than my own. We like to get that done. Broadband deployment as senator caputo and you just noted, commissioner clyburn, is the infrastructure challenge of our generation. Senator caputo and i are two of the five or six cochairs of the broadband caucus and i recently wrote a letter to the president with the cochairs that was signed by 48 senators urging the president to include broadband as part of any Infrastructure Initiative as we know the mobile now act that passed the committee in january included my provisions to advance dig once policies and expand wireless coverage. Senator thune and i have pushed for the stand alone broadband reforms. Chairman, why is direct federal support like the fcc provides through the universal service fund critical to deploying broadband in the rural parts of our country . Thank you for the question,