Transcripts For CSPAN3 FCC Chair Ajit Pai And Fellow Commiss

Also asked about a recent report found coverage status admitted to the fcc by various wire carriers to be an accurate and how the commission was planning to respond. Good morning. Welcome to the subcommittee on communication and technologies. I am glad to welcome our witnesses back before the subcommittee. I know it has been seven months since we had you before us and i know we all missed the warm welcoming atmosphere of our hearing room. Despite that passage of time many issues that were of concern to us then still remain unresolved today. For example, i asked about the investigation into phone carrier selling the realtime location of nearly every american. Mr. Chairman, you told me even after more than one year had passed we still cannot tell whether this practice has stopped and could not say whether the impacted individuals have been notified and could not tell us that members of congress and lawenforcement had their locations sold or tracked and in june of this year you told senator blumenthal that you were wrapping up this investigation and with that recommendation shortly. That was six months ago. We still dont have them. Chairman sloan and i wrote to the chairman in november asking for an update and we got a response yesterday saying he now expects an answer of the endorsement bureau by the end of january. The chairman says he will share those results with us as soon as practical. We will be interested to learn when that will be, mr. Chairman. Looking at your announcement yesterday about your new planet with mobility it still seems you have finally realized that the data you collected is garbage and that you need to go back and do this all over again. Everyone has been telling you that for years and instead of acting decisively, folks in Rural America will have to wait even longer to get broadband as you finally collect the data you need to. At our last hearing seven months ago and the hearing nine months before that members brought up the same concerns and here we are with you just yesterday announcing you are kicking off another lengthy rulemaking process to try again to fix the process. Stamping your new plan 5g does not change the fact that communities were these were desperately needed have been waiting years and will have to wait even longer because of a bungled process. That to add insult to injury, you arent even taking action against the carriers that submitted the faulty or fraudulent data in the first place. What is the incentive in the future to provide accurate data if they know they will get a pass two where is the justice for the people in the communities who have suffered because of this . Mr. Chairman, i would remind you you are charged with protecting and serving the American People, not the telecom industry. Shifting gears, on a more holiday spirited note, i am pleased about chairman pies recent comments about the tea ban. This is used by First Responders and reports have shown the value of selling this ban will not even come close to covering their relocation costs. Where i live it would cost upwards of 250 million for Public Safety to relocate that spectrum. I think once and for all we need to repeal this mandate and it makes no sense to me or many on this committee to go forward with it. Regarding seat ban i am pleased that you have finally come around to see the benefits of a public auction. For all of the discussions for need for speed in this debate you have been moving at a glacial pace and questions at the commissions Legal Authority remain in terms of lawsuits still hang out bully over the commission. I, along with subcommittee, have introduced the c ban act and similar legislation has been introduced in the senate. I believe Congress Must passed legislation and resolve the Commission Authority to ensure a fair and transparent option and capture option revenue so that it may be used to pay for the deployment of Rural Broadband nextgeneration 911 and closing the Digital Divide. We all know if we want to address these challenges the federal government needs to buy funding for the c ban auction represents our last best chance to do that in the foreseeable future and i stand ready to work with my colleagues on the committee and in the senate to address this issue promptly and swiftly. We need Real Solutions to address these problems and real protections for the American People and accountability from our federal regulators and industries that they oversee. I want to think the witnesses for being here today and i look forward to your testimony and with that, it is my pleasure to recognize my good friend the Ranking Member on the subcommittee for good medications and technology for five minutes for his Opening Statement. Thank you, mr. Chairman thank you to the commission for being with us today. Great to see you all. I appreciate that you are also willing to be to travel across country to see how the revelations are affecting companies and consumers. This past year commissioners both came to my district to speak on role broadband and learn about telehealth and decision and agriculture to see how it serves a local up service. A few years before he came to a town of less than 700 people to meet with a packed room to discuss rural call completion. This was happening outside of the dc puts our work and perspective and i appreciate the work you do and the people with us today. At the hearing in may the chairman i expressed a need for Real Solutions that address illegal robo calls and yesterday we passed bipartisan bicameral legislation out of the chamber with strong Consumer Protections to combat robo calls. This problem will only be solved with a multipronged approach and i want to thank the chairman and the rest of commissioners for their work thus far in pushing industry to curb fraudulent robo calls. I also want to thank the commission for injecting urgency into the 5. 9 gigahertz ban and long organized the value of the spectrum for Vehicle Safety and wireless innovation and we proposed to start the discussion to modernize the ban. The ongoing certainty for Safety Technologies to hamper the expansion of wide buy services with focus should put an end to that certainty and automobile safety and lack license use to help consumer demand for wifi services. I look forward to hearing more about how we can ensure both interest and advance our protecting the income and wifi is appurtenant to our economy and our overall good indications landscape which is why im interested to see that the sec is looking for the six wristband for we must be aware that the gigahertz ban i fully encourage them to have their robust Technical Analysis and every ban can have appropriate protection while harmful interference. Its important to finance has taught us backcountry used efficiently as possible. The commission has made many advances in reducing revelatory red tape and wireless broadband and for and more work remains. In july a letter with nine of my colleagues on the subcommittee encouraging the fcc to clarify its rules regarding the statutory cap on fees. Some franchise authorities have stretched to include those that may deter broadband infrastructure and part of the solution can be found by improving the underlined maps and im pleased this committee reported favorably hr 4229 broadband data at act on the house floor which i work with my friend the gentleman from iowa but the maps are only the beginning to closing the Digital Divide. Last year he and i included our position agriculture activity act in the farm bill. This provision will spur broadband deployments on rural, agricultural to help farmers better utilize and get connected quicker. I was pleased to see they recently announced the creation of a task force as mandated by our legislation to offer advice and recordations on how to best achieve this important goal. I look forward to continuing to work with the industry and the commission to further direct the connectivity issues. On the mobile broadband site there is more work to be done with china and others for 5g leadership. It is vital we continue to look for opportunities to expand the reach of 5g across the entire country especially in Rural Communities. I hope to hear more about the plan stay for the two prioritize the developing in Rural America. I also Welcome Ideas they may have on how congress can better promote broadband deployment and competition and underserved areas. Again, i thank you all for being here to testify and i yield back but id also ask unanimous consent for the four letters to be cemented. Without objection. So ordered. Thank you. I yield back. The chair now recognizes the chairman of the full committee for five minutes for his Opening Statement. Thank you. Congress mandated the federal can medications commission do it in the Public Interest and that means its actions, policies should put consumers first but unfortunately this fcc under chairman of pi turns its back to consumers in favor of big corporate interests. Time and time again the commission has ignored the voice of the people and has taken a different path laid out by billiondollar companies. The prime example is the fcc action turning control of the internet over to large corporations by eliminating strong Net Neutrality safeguards that protect at a free and open internet. That was just the beginning. As part of an effort to expedite the rollout of 5g service the fcc stripped away vital protections to help safeguard important religious and cultural travel sites but luckily the court struck down that effort and did not end there but the fcc similarly attempted to strip away protections the promote diversity in the ownership of Media Companies and again the court struck down the fccs action. Just when you think the commission cannot slip further down the fcc intentionally undermine the rule of that court are improving more consolidation afterthefact. More and more challenges just like this are coming and catering to corporate interests the fcc has repeatedly stretched the law to the point of breaking. This has resulted in delays and unsuccessful initiatives that benefit no one. Beyond that the commission has stalled when it comes to holding those megacorporations accountable for violating the slim safeguards that remain. We are, still waiting for conclusion of the fccs investigation into the widespread realtime location data by wireless carriers. That investigation started over a year ago and is unacceptable. Effective deterrence require swift and Decisive Action in the fcc has demonstrated neither. In other instances it is this commission has intentionally going after vulnerable americans. The commission is proposing to cut off support to connect schools and libraries, rural health care, broadband deployment and support for low income americans by capping the universal service fund. This is shameful and preys on americans the need our help. If that is not bad enough, the lack of actions have put American People in danger where they experience hurricanes and wildfires that the commission has all talk and no action in the wake of these disasters. I have asked the fcc to take steps to improve the Wireless Network resilient cooperative framework but nothing happens. Finally the ongoing Government Accountability Office Investigation into the fccs electronic comment filing system is producing disturbing results. I cant speak more specifically to its findings because the report is currently marked for limited or official use but i ask determine pi to dedicate the resources are needed to quickly address the issues that gal has found. I think the fcc should get back on track and put consumers first read that i yield the balance of my time to the thank you. I want to thank the commissioner for making themselves available to be in front of the committee and the staff. We note this country continues to face the deep persistent Digital Divide. Unfortunately i do not believe commissioner pai under this leadership has done enough to bridge that divide and a concern that just occurred yesterday despite bipartisan agreement that the United States of america must fix our nations broadband map we know the mapping system that the fcc has to accurately capture where there is connectivity and not is broken. It is not accurately collecting that information and then to find out that wireless carriers submitted false information, false mapping information, inaccurate information that means wireless carriers submitted misleading coverage information to the fcc and im concerned its been swept under the rug. When consumers go by their mobile phones they have of beautiful brochure put in front of them and it shows coverage areas where they live in those coverage areas are supposed to show where there is connectivity and many people especially in rural areas by their mobile phones based on those maps. Because they need to make a phone call to save someones life and that elderly parent that needs conductivity but theres no other family around so why in the world would they not be held accountable especially when there is bipartisan agreement from this congress and democrats and the publicans need to fix this problem. I hope we hear more about that and how we can be connected and then on top of that chairman pai was announced that the fcc would rush or repackaged usf funding based on this data but the dollars are precious and we need to make sure we put those dollars where they matter most and we get connectivity especially Rural America. Thank you for the time i go back. Gentleman yields back. The chair now recognizes mr. Walden Ranking Member of the full committee for five minutes. Good morning. Thank you. Good morning. Thank you for your service to america. I know we have disagreements on some policy issues but we do appreciate the meetings we have had and the discussions weve had in the service you are providing. You all heard me all along the talk about the need for broadband in Rural America and mr. Chairman pai joined me in oregon and we still lack access to Broadband Internet service and millions of americans who live in Rural America faced the same sort of internet and the universal service fund is an important policymakers rr prime is a goal to ensure the federal resources are allocated responsibly. In that vein we have two have accurate broadband maps identified those places and we express that in different terms with different emotion. I started way back when the obama stimulus was going to this committee and money was going out the door before the maps determining where underserved areas were and i did not have an amendment to fix that but it went down unfortunately. Here we are an administration or so later and anyway this committee recently passed to bipartisan mapping bills aimed at improving Data Collection and mapping efforts of the fcc. There are committees that do have concern for us and we learned from the press release yesterday the fcc establishing a new 9 billiondollar fund with a billion specifically for precision agriculture trade it sounds good but i support filled out for 5g in rural areas but i have no details on this plan. I do have questions. Im also unclear as to whether the 9 billion came from and still waiting for maps to accurately be updated and as you all know we are the committee of oversight for the federal committee Occasions Committee and we take our jobs seriously and i know you know that. You take yours seriously but we expect to have more notice and medication on some of these big announcements and that would be helpful and alleviate the questions that will come today. Since we need to be Crystal Clear about our intentions for the fcc action for this committee id also like to note the importance of ensuring federal programs outside the energy and Commerce Committee remains consistent with the committees goal of promoting private investment in broadband infrastructure to plemons and sometimes various programs trying to achieve the same goal are not always in sync, as you all know. Last congress we appropriated more than 600 billion toward broadband and funding programs and that money and makes its way out the door i welcome an update from the commissioner here today now the fcc is consulting with other agencies as required by legislation last year. Switching gears i like to turn spectrum issues that recently raise quite a bit of attention and the fcc announced they would pursue a public auction of spectrum and is the law stands now any proceeds for the fcc auction would go to the treasury for deficit reduction rather than toward bipartisan priorities like facility the National Transition 911 and i think its prudent to legislate and look to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to work with us on this issue in the coming weeks. As we have these discussions we must work with the current licensees, potential bidders and others so this auction was quickly and we preserve the u. S. Wireless leadership. Id said the solutions to challenges and chairman pai will knows that one of these issues ive been focused on is challenges facing our Public Safety officials and talc medications and we continue moving into a Digital World and this includes the finance solution to the t ban auction and at the same time is also imperative we put a stop to 911 feet in diversion so state