Transcripts For CSPAN3 FCC Commissioners Testify At Oversigh

Tennessee. The subcommittee on communications and technology will now come to order. The chair now recognizes herself for five minutes for an Opening Statement. And i want to welcome you all to the subcommittees hearing titled oversight and reauthorization of the federal communications commission. I appreciate the commissioners appearing to offer their testimony today. And we appreciate that we have been able to hear from you in advance of this hearing. The fcc has not been rethorsoned since 1990 appear its current appropriation is over 430 million its charged with the administration of the Communications Act and other statutes vital to the functioning of the communications policy. We must reexamine the Core Functions of the commission and restore a culture of hul humility. The fcc plays a vital rode in the increasingly technologically dent society. The subcommittee released a draft for consideration. I would be remiss by not discussing net neutral the commissioning ins 2015 was a power grab leased with the irony of suffocating the most innovative part of our economy with the 1930s era law. This gave new meaning to the term progressive. Apply comments to the commissions mprm are dug august 18th. Chairman pahl we hope you keep the wed whacker handle because it has a lot of work to do. Title 2 reclassification has create add 5. 6 reduction in isp Network Investment will lead to rate regulation and has tremendoused uncertainty. However i know there is disagreement and while my colleagues on the other side of the aisle had nothing to do with in substantiate giants amazon facebook and google recently joined with website such as important hub and dark money groups fight for the future demand progress and free press for a day of action to claim republicans will break the net. Let me be clear. Republicans have always supported a free and open internet. Lets not have any misunderstanding on that issue. We must move past the partisan rhetoric. Ranking member pal onsaid this is a job for congress referring to the Net Neutrality rules. And i agree. Other issues confronting the commission including administration of the Life Line Program. Media ownership rules and process reform. The gao released another report critical of the Life Line Program on june 29th. It found that 36 of the Program Participants could not be verified for eligibility. Over 6,000 deceased individuals were enrolled after their death and numerous carriers approved eligibility for the Program Based on fictitious documentation. Life line continues to be playinged by significant deficiencies including the need for a hard cap. Outdated media ownership rules and process reform issues also concern the committee. Commission oreilly astutely noted the fcc quad reenl review of broadcast ownership rules restland last naught divorce fourdoor the realities that todays media marketplace end quote. Finally process reform has been an issue of bipartisan concern for some time. Bipartisan bills have passed the house five of the last six years. Chairman pal youve taken positives steps including release of a fact sheet for any proposal to be considered at an open meeting and releasing the text of the documents to the public in advance of a vote at an open meeting. However, more must be done to promote and sustain a culture of transparency at the commission on several other issues. Noted in the majority memorandum. I look forward to todays hearing and at this time i yield the balance of my time to mr. Lance. Thank you chairman black burn and welcome to the fcc kirgss. Internet is a great equalizer provides a open platform to embour innovation and free speech as well as other invention and histories by reclassifying Internet Services under depression area title 29s common carrier rults in 2015 montana cfcc kneeledlessly risked the grate economic engine fch title 2 ohms the door to burdensome regulations that harm competition threaten the investment and broad band needed to close the Digital Divide. Hold back innovations such as 5 g. I applaud chairman pal for phishing a proceeding to rf the misguided reclassification p its important for consumers not to conflate the harmful title ii reclassification with the Net Neutrality principles as some would suggest tp there is strong support among the American People for a light touch approach to internet regulation. And a strong kwon sense us on both sides of the aisle for Net Neutrality principles. These ideas do not nighttime to be mutually exclusive. It is my hope that the commission and congress can finally resolve the open internet issuesen a that we can Work Together in a bipartisan capacity. Thank you madam chair. And now rick nays the Ranking Member mr. Doyle for five minutes. Chang chairman for holding this long overdue hearing today and thank you to the witnesses for appearing before us. Its my sincere hope we can make this a more regular occurrence. Ive spent my time in congress and on this committee as a strong advocate of competition innovation and opportunity. These are the pillars of a successful marketplace. And the driving force of our economy. When we act to weaken them we weaken our own economy and our country. Kmarm pal in the time that you have been head of this agency we have seen an agenda that is anticonsumer, antiSmall Business and anticompetition antiinnovation and antiopportunity. Right out of the gate the commission took a range of actions including pulling back an investigation of anticompetitive zero rating practices and a mere Progress Report on updates to a program to bring broad band to schools and libraries. The commission reinstated the uhf discount for what seems to be no other reason than to enable an unprecedented merger between sin clear and tribune that would give the combined entity a foothold in nearly 80 of american households. The commission eviscerated competition for Business Data Services in this country. Your order concluded that a market is competitive if it is served by one provider with the possibility of another one might enter at some point. I dont even see how this makes sense. The commission ended a program that enables poor people to get access to broad band literally pulling service away from people who had already signed up. The commission is in the process of eliminating the fccs open Internet Order. Which as of this morning 12. 3 million have written to you in overwhelming opposition. These rules are working they have been upheld in federal court and they have promoted a Virtuous Cycle of investment and innovation online. And i dont think this point can be stressed enough. Publicly traded companies are required by law to tell their investors the risks to their company. No publicly traded isp has made such a claim. However, many Online Companies including netflix and snap have claimed that oh eroding or eliminating the rules will in fact pose a threat to their businesses. You know when i read your statements and you talk about investment and your concerns, you only seem to talk about in relation to isp investment. Im concerned that maybe you just dont get it. The internet isnt just an isp connection to the consumer. Its a vast array of Networks Services and applications. Ignoring the rest of the ecosystem is to ignore the part of the internet that is the most vibrant and innovative. Im deeply concerned that the fcc is on a wrong path, a path that will hurt Small Businesses regular people and some of the most innovative sectors of our economy. And on that cheery note i will yield the balance of my time to miss eshoo. I thank the Ranking Member and what a superb Opening Statement you just made. One of the most important issues currently before the fcc is obviously Net Neutrality. We have heard a lot from Net Neutrality opponents about the impact of title ii on brad bant investment while fielgts affirmative. Ps tell them its kmield investment their executives tell sharmds a different story. The benefits of title ii protections to every other sector of our economy are enormous, a free and open internet supported the creation of 10. 4 million u. S. Jobs in all 50 states in 2016. 86 of these jobs came outside of major tech hubs. Despite the broad impact of the open internet on our economy, the fcc is barreling down the road of eliminating the critical protections and making it clear to the American People startups and Small Businesses that their input is not valued nearly as much as that of washingtons special interests. So i look forward to discussing this issue further and ask that my full statement be inserted in the record. I also plan to discuss very directly with you mr. Chairman the whole issue of rt in the Intelligence Communitys Public Record statement. It is replete with references to rt. And i think that we need to pay a great deal of attention to that. I thank you the gentleman for yielding and i yield back. The gentle lady yield back does the gentleman yield back. I yield back the gentleman yields back his team i will say to my colleagues we agree you that the issues of the cosystemen oh the net true nalt title ii deserve additional attention attention from this committee and we look forward to carrying forward with this. At that time i recognize the chairman of the full committee mr. Walden for five minutes for Opening Statement. Morning madam chair to all of the witnesses, the commissioners and the chairman to our guesting mp American Innovation and the internet space is literally revolutionized the world and everything we do and how we do it. From research in communications to shopping and entertainment, the internet is an essential part of our everyday lives. Given the debate over the rules for internet operations and Consumer Privacy it is our responsibility on the energy and Commerce Committee to fully understand all sides of the internet governance issue. Therefore, im announcing this morning that im convening a full energy and Commerce Committee hearing entitled ground rules for the he internet ecosystem for thursday, september 7th, 2017. Today i am sending formal invitations to the top executives of leading tech Companies Including facebook, alf wet, amazon and netflix, as well as broad band providers including, comcast, at t, verizon and charter kmupgsing, inviting each of them to come and testify before the full energy and Commerce Committee. Its time for congress to legislate the rules of the internet and stop the pingpong game of regulations and litigation. Make no mistake given the importance of the Public Policy debate and the work we need to do as a committee it is essential that we hear directly from the countries top internet and edge provider leaders who frequently speak out publicly about rules of the internet. Its time they came before us and directly shared their positions and answered our questions. And with more than a months advance notice im sure they can arrange their schedules to accommodate our invitations. Now with regard to todays panel, chairman pal, welcome and congratulates on taking over the helm at the fcc. Commissioner clyburn, commissioner oreilly were glad off you back us as well thank you for the work we do we begin a new charp in the history of the fcc one that will ham shape some of the most important parts of the national kmi the video distribution sfree, Telecommunications Industry and the internet. In todays hearing we begin to examine rethorsoning the fcc thats the First Time Since 1990 the fcc has come up for reauthorization. By any estimation this discussion is long overdue. And today we continue conversations to make the fcc a model agency with proposals for a number of process reforms. Many of which will sound very familiar because weve taken them up before in this committee. When we first took up the open government reforms i said it was not about who headed the fcc at the time it was about improving transparency and public involvement in a public process. I believe that under chairman wheeler and i believe that just as much now under chairman pal. I was pleased to be the chairman demonstrated his commitment to making the operations more transparent through action by initiating a Pilot Program to publicly release the text of Commission Agenda items at the same time theyre presented to the other commissioners for a vote. A measure his predecessor oppose ds there are a number of matters pending with the Commission Many of which we will discuss. With the the broadcaster repack is under way. The commissioner set forth of a fwrchs schedule to move all the broadcasters impacted by this auction. While i have every confidence that the chairman will work to ensure consumers to have access to over the air television concerns remain about the sufficiency of the 39month time line and the 1. 75 billion budget. I take the concerns seriously and will continue to work closely with the commission and my colleagues to make sure that over the air broadcasting and the viewers they reach on main channel and on their translatesers are not adversely affected. Of course chairman pal commence add proceed egged to examining returning regulation of the internet to barpt framework that made it the economic engine it is today. As we wait for this process to take its course pb the future of the greatest economic engine of modern times is clouded with uncertainty with a frohhing recognition that the time is now for legislative action we offer to waived for on Net Neutrality in 2015 i believe now as i did then that we should Work Together to write Bipartisan Legislation to protect the internet from bad actors who want to use their unfair advantage to block throttle or in other ways engage in bad behavior. The American People deserve no less we stand ready to act. Chairman pal commissioner err clyburn shall commissioner oreilly thank you all again. There are others who want to use the last 15 seconds i would happily yield and if not i yield back the balance of my time. The gentleman yields back at this time i recognize the Ranking Member of the full committees mr. Pallone for five months for opening. Thank you madam chairwoman. Id like to thank you the fcc commissioners for joining us this morning our first fcc oversight hearing of this congress. Kwhiel im glad youre hear this hearing should have occurred months ago the republican majority had no problem conducting oversights the prefer ov administration holding quarterlily oversight hearing now their own Party Controls the majorities of the commission we are six months into the administration and this is our first hearing with the new commission. I hope this is not a sign of things to come. Because the commissions own actions have shone the critical need for congressional oversight. To date most of the fccs actions have ignored the needs of consumers. To often when given the chance this fcc has sided with large corporations to the detriment of hard working americans. The commission started this year by making it more difficult for competitors to offer broad band to low income people through the Life Line Program. It continued with the scheme to encourage for consolidation into the Media Industry eliminating voices from the air. Last week chairman pal to refused to commit to protecting the funds necessary to close the homework gap as part of the popular Erate Program in our schools pen then the alarming outright refused by the fc. Kr to protect the security of the broad bant networks at a time when the russians and others are looking for new ways to breakin. But the highest profile example chl fcc side wg large corporations over mall businesses and hard working americans is the attempt to eliminate Net Neutrality andfree and open internet is kmurgs for democracy by giving everyone an eelk voice oh online speeshl communities too often loafer canada looked by traditional media each of us gits to decide which videos we watch which sites we read and which services we use. Nobody gets to influence that choice. Not the government, and not the companies that run the networks. A free and open internet also allows Small Businesses to flourish. The Small Businesses many of which owned by minister and women are responsible for more than half the jobs in the country today. If the fc. Kr moves ahead with Net Neutrality repeal the consequences will be severe. Their plan sl have a chilling influence on denis democracy cut away at connections with each other and limit Economic Opportunities for the future. The fcc claims its that Opening Statement<\/a>. And i want to welcome you all to the subcommittees hearing titled oversight and reauthorization of the federal communications commission. I appreciate the commissioners appearing to offer their testimony today. And we appreciate that we have been able to hear from you in advance of this hearing. The fcc has not been rethorsoned since 1990 appear its current appropriation is over 430 million its charged with the administration of the Communications Act<\/a> and other statutes vital to the functioning of the communications policy. We must reexamine the Core Functions<\/a> of the commission and restore a culture of hul humility. The fcc plays a vital rode in the increasingly technologically dent society. The subcommittee released a draft for consideration. I would be remiss by not discussing net neutral the commissioning ins 2015 was a power grab leased with the irony of suffocating the most innovative part of our economy with the 1930s era law. This gave new meaning to the term progressive. Apply comments to the commissions mprm are dug august 18th. Chairman pahl we hope you keep the wed whacker handle because it has a lot of work to do. Title 2 reclassification has create add 5. 6 reduction in isp Network Investment<\/a> will lead to rate regulation and has tremendoused uncertainty. However i know there is disagreement and while my colleagues on the other side of the aisle had nothing to do with in substantiate giants amazon facebook and google recently joined with website such as important hub and dark money groups fight for the future demand progress and free press for a day of action to claim republicans will break the net. Let me be clear. Republicans have always supported a free and open internet. Lets not have any misunderstanding on that issue. We must move past the partisan rhetoric. Ranking member pal onsaid this is a job for congress referring to the Net Neutrality<\/a> rules. And i agree. Other issues confronting the commission including administration of the Life Line Program<\/a>. Media ownership rules and process reform. The gao released another report critical of the Life Line Program<\/a> on june 29th. It found that 36 of the Program Participants<\/a> could not be verified for eligibility. Over 6,000 deceased individuals were enrolled after their death and numerous carriers approved eligibility for the Program Based<\/a> on fictitious documentation. Life line continues to be playinged by significant deficiencies including the need for a hard cap. Outdated media ownership rules and process reform issues also concern the committee. Commission oreilly astutely noted the fcc quad reenl review of broadcast ownership rules restland last naught divorce fourdoor the realities that todays media marketplace end quote. Finally process reform has been an issue of bipartisan concern for some time. Bipartisan bills have passed the house five of the last six years. Chairman pal youve taken positives steps including release of a fact sheet for any proposal to be considered at an open meeting and releasing the text of the documents to the public in advance of a vote at an open meeting. However, more must be done to promote and sustain a culture of transparency at the commission on several other issues. Noted in the majority memorandum. I look forward to todays hearing and at this time i yield the balance of my time to mr. Lance. Thank you chairman black burn and welcome to the fcc kirgss. Internet is a great equalizer provides a open platform to embour innovation and free speech as well as other invention and histories by reclassifying Internet Services<\/a> under depression area title 29s common carrier rults in 2015 montana cfcc kneeledlessly risked the grate economic engine fch title 2 ohms the door to burdensome regulations that harm competition threaten the investment and broad band needed to close the Digital Divide<\/a>. Hold back innovations such as 5 g. I applaud chairman pal for phishing a proceeding to rf the misguided reclassification p its important for consumers not to conflate the harmful title ii reclassification with the Net Neutrality<\/a> principles as some would suggest tp there is strong support among the American People<\/a> for a light touch approach to internet regulation. And a strong kwon sense us on both sides of the aisle for Net Neutrality<\/a> principles. These ideas do not nighttime to be mutually exclusive. It is my hope that the commission and congress can finally resolve the open internet issuesen a that we can Work Together<\/a> in a bipartisan capacity. Thank you madam chair. And now rick nays the Ranking Member<\/a> mr. Doyle for five minutes. Chang chairman for holding this long overdue hearing today and thank you to the witnesses for appearing before us. Its my sincere hope we can make this a more regular occurrence. Ive spent my time in congress and on this committee as a strong advocate of competition innovation and opportunity. These are the pillars of a successful marketplace. And the driving force of our economy. When we act to weaken them we weaken our own economy and our country. Kmarm pal in the time that you have been head of this agency we have seen an agenda that is anticonsumer, antiSmall Business<\/a> and anticompetition antiinnovation and antiopportunity. Right out of the gate the commission took a range of actions including pulling back an investigation of anticompetitive zero rating practices and a mere Progress Report<\/a> on updates to a program to bring broad band to schools and libraries. The commission reinstated the uhf discount for what seems to be no other reason than to enable an unprecedented merger between sin clear and tribune that would give the combined entity a foothold in nearly 80 of american households. The commission eviscerated competition for Business Data Services<\/a> in this country. Your order concluded that a market is competitive if it is served by one provider with the possibility of another one might enter at some point. I dont even see how this makes sense. The commission ended a program that enables poor people to get access to broad band literally pulling service away from people who had already signed up. The commission is in the process of eliminating the fccs open Internet Order<\/a>. Which as of this morning 12. 3 million have written to you in overwhelming opposition. These rules are working they have been upheld in federal court and they have promoted a Virtuous Cycle<\/a> of investment and innovation online. And i dont think this point can be stressed enough. Publicly traded companies are required by law to tell their investors the risks to their company. No publicly traded isp has made such a claim. However, many Online Companies<\/a> including netflix and snap have claimed that oh eroding or eliminating the rules will in fact pose a threat to their businesses. You know when i read your statements and you talk about investment and your concerns, you only seem to talk about in relation to isp investment. Im concerned that maybe you just dont get it. The internet isnt just an isp connection to the consumer. Its a vast array of Networks Services<\/a> and applications. Ignoring the rest of the ecosystem is to ignore the part of the internet that is the most vibrant and innovative. Im deeply concerned that the fcc is on a wrong path, a path that will hurt Small Businesses<\/a> regular people and some of the most innovative sectors of our economy. And on that cheery note i will yield the balance of my time to miss eshoo. I thank the Ranking Member<\/a> and what a superb Opening Statement<\/a> you just made. One of the most important issues currently before the fcc is obviously Net Neutrality<\/a>. We have heard a lot from Net Neutrality<\/a> opponents about the impact of title ii on brad bant investment while fielgts affirmative. Ps tell them its kmield investment their executives tell sharmds a different story. The benefits of title ii protections to every other sector of our economy are enormous, a free and open internet supported the creation of 10. 4 million u. S. Jobs in all 50 states in 2016. 86 of these jobs came outside of major tech hubs. Despite the broad impact of the open internet on our economy, the fcc is barreling down the road of eliminating the critical protections and making it clear to the American People<\/a> startups and Small Businesses<\/a> that their input is not valued nearly as much as that of washingtons special interests. So i look forward to discussing this issue further and ask that my full statement be inserted in the record. I also plan to discuss very directly with you mr. Chairman the whole issue of rt in the Intelligence Community<\/a>s Public Record<\/a> statement. It is replete with references to rt. And i think that we need to pay a great deal of attention to that. I thank you the gentleman for yielding and i yield back. The gentle lady yield back does the gentleman yield back. I yield back the gentleman yields back his team i will say to my colleagues we agree you that the issues of the cosystemen oh the net true nalt title ii deserve additional attention attention from this committee and we look forward to carrying forward with this. At that time i recognize the chairman of the full committee mr. Walden for five minutes for Opening Statement<\/a>. Morning madam chair to all of the witnesses, the commissioners and the chairman to our guesting mp American Innovation<\/a> and the internet space is literally revolutionized the world and everything we do and how we do it. From research in communications to shopping and entertainment, the internet is an essential part of our everyday lives. Given the debate over the rules for internet operations and Consumer Privacy<\/a> it is our responsibility on the energy and Commerce Committee<\/a> to fully understand all sides of the internet governance issue. Therefore, im announcing this morning that im convening a full energy and Commerce Committee<\/a> hearing entitled ground rules for the he internet ecosystem for thursday, september 7th, 2017. Today i am sending formal invitations to the top executives of leading tech Companies Including<\/a> facebook, alf wet, amazon and netflix, as well as broad band providers including, comcast, at t, verizon and charter kmupgsing, inviting each of them to come and testify before the full energy and Commerce Committee<\/a>. Its time for congress to legislate the rules of the internet and stop the pingpong game of regulations and litigation. Make no mistake given the importance of the Public Policy<\/a> debate and the work we need to do as a committee it is essential that we hear directly from the countries top internet and edge provider leaders who frequently speak out publicly about rules of the internet. Its time they came before us and directly shared their positions and answered our questions. And with more than a months advance notice im sure they can arrange their schedules to accommodate our invitations. Now with regard to todays panel, chairman pal, welcome and congratulates on taking over the helm at the fcc. Commissioner clyburn, commissioner oreilly were glad off you back us as well thank you for the work we do we begin a new charp in the history of the fcc one that will ham shape some of the most important parts of the national kmi the video distribution sfree, Telecommunications Industry<\/a> and the internet. In todays hearing we begin to examine rethorsoning the fcc thats the First Time Since<\/a> 1990 the fcc has come up for reauthorization. By any estimation this discussion is long overdue. And today we continue conversations to make the fcc a model agency with proposals for a number of process reforms. Many of which will sound very familiar because weve taken them up before in this committee. When we first took up the open government reforms i said it was not about who headed the fcc at the time it was about improving transparency and public involvement in a public process. I believe that under chairman wheeler and i believe that just as much now under chairman pal. I was pleased to be the chairman demonstrated his commitment to making the operations more transparent through action by initiating a Pilot Program<\/a> to publicly release the text of Commission Agenda<\/a> items at the same time theyre presented to the other commissioners for a vote. A measure his predecessor oppose ds there are a number of matters pending with the Commission Many<\/a> of which we will discuss. With the the broadcaster repack is under way. The commissioner set forth of a fwrchs schedule to move all the broadcasters impacted by this auction. While i have every confidence that the chairman will work to ensure consumers to have access to over the air television concerns remain about the sufficiency of the 39month time line and the 1. 75 billion budget. I take the concerns seriously and will continue to work closely with the commission and my colleagues to make sure that over the air broadcasting and the viewers they reach on main channel and on their translatesers are not adversely affected. Of course chairman pal commence add proceed egged to examining returning regulation of the internet to barpt framework that made it the economic engine it is today. As we wait for this process to take its course pb the future of the greatest economic engine of modern times is clouded with uncertainty with a frohhing recognition that the time is now for legislative action we offer to waived for on Net Neutrality<\/a> in 2015 i believe now as i did then that we should Work Together<\/a> to write Bipartisan Legislation<\/a> to protect the internet from bad actors who want to use their unfair advantage to block throttle or in other ways engage in bad behavior. The American People<\/a> deserve no less we stand ready to act. Chairman pal commissioner err clyburn shall commissioner oreilly thank you all again. There are others who want to use the last 15 seconds i would happily yield and if not i yield back the balance of my time. The gentleman yields back at this time i recognize the Ranking Member<\/a> of the full committees mr. Pallone for five months for opening. Thank you madam chairwoman. Id like to thank you the fcc commissioners for joining us this morning our first fcc oversight hearing of this congress. Kwhiel im glad youre hear this hearing should have occurred months ago the republican majority had no problem conducting oversights the prefer ov administration holding quarterlily oversight hearing now their own Party Controls<\/a> the majorities of the commission we are six months into the administration and this is our first hearing with the new commission. I hope this is not a sign of things to come. Because the commissions own actions have shone the critical need for congressional oversight. To date most of the fccs actions have ignored the needs of consumers. To often when given the chance this fcc has sided with large corporations to the detriment of hard working americans. The commission started this year by making it more difficult for competitors to offer broad band to low income people through the Life Line Program<\/a>. It continued with the scheme to encourage for consolidation into the Media Industry<\/a> eliminating voices from the air. Last week chairman pal to refused to commit to protecting the funds necessary to close the homework gap as part of the popular Erate Program<\/a> in our schools pen then the alarming outright refused by the fc. Kr to protect the security of the broad bant networks at a time when the russians and others are looking for new ways to breakin. But the highest profile example chl fcc side wg large corporations over mall businesses and hard working americans is the attempt to eliminate Net Neutrality<\/a> andfree and open internet is kmurgs for democracy by giving everyone an eelk voice oh online speeshl communities too often loafer canada looked by traditional media each of us gits to decide which videos we watch which sites we read and which services we use. Nobody gets to influence that choice. Not the government, and not the companies that run the networks. A free and open internet also allows Small Businesses<\/a> to flourish. The Small Businesses<\/a> many of which owned by minister and women are responsible for more than half the jobs in the country today. If the fc. Kr moves ahead with Net Neutrality<\/a> repeal the consequences will be severe. Their plan sl have a chilling influence on denis democracy cut away at connections with each other and limit Economic Opportunities<\/a> for the future. The fcc claims its that Net Neutrality<\/a> repeal is necessary because consumers protections might deter investment in network infrastructure. But this narrow minded view of the Public Interest<\/a>s can lead to cruel results. I hope the commissioner he agrees really listen to millions of comments coming from around the nation and reconsider the dangerous plan to eliminate Net Neutrality<\/a>. This is not only an ozcoversig hearing today. The republican majority recently surprised us all with a 42 page reauthorization bill that had absolutely no democratic input tp. And this bill is flaw it slashes 18 million from the fcc budget the same agency that is having issues keeping the website up and running pl this is not serious legislation. And it depose not bode well for any serious legislation being developed by the majority of this subcommittee on any major communication issues. And with that id like to yield such time as she wants to miss matsul that i have left. Thank you very much Ranking Member<\/a> pallone and for he would yielding me time andmz welcome our fcc commissioners i represent sacramento the capital of the state of california. Where innovation is central to the which we do business. My constituents are extremely concerned about fast and fair access to the internet which is essentially for innovation economy to thrive. In fact i have gotten myself so many comments on my phones and emails and in sacramento and here in washington, d. C. Everyone from Small Business<\/a> owners to educators and lie braens in my district have told me that they are count oenga the fcc Net Neutrality<\/a> rules. And its not just my constituents. Its americans across this country. Almost 11 Million People<\/a> have contacted the fcc about why Net Neutrality<\/a> is so important. And these are not just business people. These are students, seniors, n i sai before. These are people who use the internet every single day and want it to be there. And i have to say this. Chairman pal, i urge you to listen to the voices, millions of voices and not roll back the progress that we have made. It will important for the future of our country here. Its important for the future of our young people. And i truly believe that in this way if we stopped this progress we will in essence stop the progress of our country. So i urge you to listen. And i dwreeld back the balance of my time. And i yield back madam chairwoman. The gentleman yields back. I will remind reply colleagues we had hearing scheduled in march and gave up our day for the markup of the healthcare bill. And we would have liked to have had this hearing earlier in the year. That concludes member Opening Statement<\/a>s. The chair would remind all members that pursuant to the Committee Rules<\/a> they have an opportunity to make their Opening Statement<\/a> a part of this record. We want to thank you all of the witnesses for being here and taking the time to testify before the subcommittee. Todays witnesses will have the opportunity to give Opening Statement<\/a>s followed by questions from the members. Our Witness Panel<\/a> for todays hearing will include the honorable ajlt pal chairman of the commission. The Mignon Clyburn<\/a> who a commissioner at the federal communications maccommission and the honorable michael oreilly, also a commissioner at the federal communications commission. We appreciate each of you being here today and for preparing your testimony for the kpt. We will begin the panel with you chairman pal you are now recognized for five minutes for your Opening Statement<\/a>. Thank you. Chairman black burn, Ranking Member<\/a> doyle, members of the subcommittee thank you for giving me the tune to testify today. Since 2012 it has been an honor to work with you on many issues. Now as chairman i look forward to striving together to bring Digital Opportunity<\/a> to all americans. I also want to pay tribute to a distinguished member of the subcommittee representative Steve Scalise<\/a> ive had a chance to work with him over the past few years i learned a truth known to you to know him is like him my thoughts and prayers continue to be with him during his recovery. The agency has been busy during the past few months. July marked Consumer Protection<\/a> month at the fcc appear our opening meeting we targeted a trooid consumer scourges, unlawful rob owe and ruler call completion all on the heels of taking down the largest spoof ner the agencys history. August will be the rural broad band month on august 3rd we consider the next steps implementing the connect america fund and Mobility Fund<\/a> reverse auctions. Well also explore how to ensure that our ongoing collection of broad band Deployment Data<\/a> is as accurate and efficient as possible. There is of course much more that the agency is doing and much more to be done. I look forward to continuing working together on a bipartisan basis to close the Digital Divide<\/a>. Promote innovation, proelgt consumers and Public Safety<\/a> and improve the fccs processes and procedures. My testimony today will focus on two issues that i believe are ripe for legislative action. First i applaud the subcommittee for promoting legislation to reauthorize the fcc for five years. Im egoer to work with the subcommittee to advance it. I want to highlight one particular provision and fielgts entitled deposits of bidders to be deposited in treasury. That provision is a absolutely critical if our nation is going to lead the world if 5 gp because without it the fcc wont be able to large spectrum auctions in the foreseeable future here is why. Communication attention act requires that up front payments made by bidders and spectrum auctions be deposited in and i quote an interestbearing account at a Financial Institution<\/a>. But recently regulately requirements have dissuaded private institutions from holding the upflont payments. Public institutions too have indicated that Going Forward<\/a> they have no interest in establish attention these special purpose accounts that would be necessary to offer such services. As a result, despite repeated efforts by f. Kr c and treasury staff, no Financial Institution<\/a> is now willing to hold upfront payments in louisiana interest bearing account for a large spectrum auction. News, the fcc currently has no way to comply with the law. And no way to move forward with any such auction. That is which i appreciate the subcommittees willingness to address the situation. The simple fix contained in the draft legislation, the fcc would again be able to schedule large spectrum auctions by allowing upfront payments to be deposited at the treasury. Second, i would like to update the subcommittee on the post inincentive auction transition process. July 12th wgs the deadline for Television Broadcasters<\/a> that are going to be repacked to submit cost estimates to the commission. And two days later the fcc announced the aggregate amount reported by the the television stations and multiple channel programming driblters that are eligible for reimbursement was 2. 115 billion. However we caution we expected to receive additional estimates from mv p. D. S and a smaller number of stations. In recent days the fcc received several additional stumts and the ago gri git total of estimated costs increased to 2. 139 billion. Given the estimates that we have received to date we are confident that one additional estimates are received the totals will be below 2. 2 billion. Looking beyond the initial round the estimates the ago gri git total of repacking costs will continue to change through amendment and independent review during the transition process. For these reasons the fcc cannot definitively report today how much the repack will cost. The final number could be lower or higher than the current 2. 139 pal dollars. But whe we do expect the final number to be above the shh 1. 75 billion that congress has provided the commission to reimburse favgtedations as a result unless Congress Acts<\/a> to raise the 19. 75 billion cap the substantial likelihood is that local broadcasters will be required to pay some portion of the repacking costs out of their own pockets. I would be happy to work with the subcommittee to address the important issue. Chairman black burn Ranking Member<\/a> doyle members of the subcommittee thank you for holding the hearing. I look forward to answering questions and continuing to work with you and staffs in the time to come. Thank you madam chair. And he yields back right on time. Commissioner clyburn you are recognized for five minutes. Chairman black burn Ranking Member<\/a> doyle members of the subcommittee good morning and thank you for the opportunity to again appear before you to share my priorities for advancing competition competent strengthenings viewpoint diversecy and ensuring skupters are always put first. Last week i had the privilege of traveling to marrietta ohio. It was there i heard countless stories from individuals businesses and local government leaders who but for no other reason than their geographic location and maybe slight income gap find themselves on the wrong side of digital and opportunities divide in appalachia. Too many families in Rural America<\/a> and even many urban communities are suffering from poor to no connectivity and subStandard Service<\/a> that to add insult to injury, to simply unaffordable. I believe however that that if we commit as an agency to put the interests of consumers and Small Businesses<\/a> first we will be able to truly say that we are fulfilling the statutory mandate to serve the Public Interest<\/a>s. Allow me to spend the majorities of my testimony today further explaining how the commission can achieve this goal. Among my Top Priorities<\/a> is reserve the commissions 2015 open internet rules. But just what is this administrations response to the more than now 12 million commenters who expressed their views with the commission . To propose a dismantling of the bright line rules of road we adopted in 2015 and were upheld by the d. C. Circuit last year. We need to hit the pause button and begin serious discussions about the broader implications of undoing our classification of broad band as a title ii service. Take for example Consumer Privacy<\/a>. In a World Without<\/a> title ii not only will the fcc be forever barred from addressing Consumer Privacy<\/a> in a broad band world it is unclear that any agency will ever hold that authority. Similarly, when it comes to our efforts to expand the deployment of broad band, including in Rural America<\/a>, taking away title ii for broad band undercuts our ability to ensure universal Service Support<\/a> for broad band by taking away our clearest choice of authority to make sure all americans can wekt o connected. Undoing our classification of broad band as a title 2 service also harms the fccs ability to enable competition. Without title ii it will be far more difficult for the commission to enact policies to promote competition. Second, i need a tireless leader and defender of the fccs Life Line Program<\/a>. And the need for there to be affordable connectivity for all american consumers. The reality is that at 80 to 100 a month broad band bill is simply out of reach for americans struggling to meet make ends meet. Moving forward, we have a choice to make as a commission. Will we be short sighted and weaken a Program Designed<\/a> to assist our nations most vulnerable . Or will we commit to constructively address and fix any remaining issues . Third i remained committed to dlifrpg just and reasonable rates for the 2. 7 million children who have been hampered in request to communicate with a narted payment i thank. For the leadership bobby rushten and others subcommittee who fought for reform. Rest assured i will continue fighting to ensure that inmates and loved ones do not have to pay several thousand of what a nonincarceration incarcerated person pays just to stay in touch. Fourth i a strong believer in the need for greater diversecy of viewpoint across the public airwaves. However the commission has taken several highly concerning steps this year to derail that goal and including rereinstating the techologically obsolete uhf discount. Reinstituting the maintaining this loop hole that belongs in a regulatory trash heap the commission has signalled its willingness to allow a single broadcast Station Group<\/a> to reach nearly 80 of the u. S. Households in a way that is nontransparent to the public and enables a nearly doubling of the ownership threat tolls set by this body in 2004. Finally i would like to share some views about the commissions work around around broad band enabled health care if you would. Last month the commissions connected health task forced released update of our popular broad brand mapping tool our latest data shows there are 214 counties be, 175 of which are majority rule, were broad band access is below 50 and diabetes and obesity rates are above the national average. In a laet breaking update i am pleased to report that as of friday, the fcc has reopened the broad band health paroleding for additional comment. He equipped with this information and working our federal partners a the hss the va and the the fcc will be better positioned to target those double burdened counties. In conclusion, let me say that i always stand ready to work with my colleagues, this subcommittee, state and local partnerings and Business Leaders<\/a> to advance policies that put consumers first and ensure our kmupgsing landscape remains the envy of the world. I thank you very much for allowing me more time. I very enthusiastic about being here as you can tell by process mime statement and i look forward to answering any questions you may have. And the remaining time i dont have. Thank you commissioner. Clyburn and were truck about having you here and we thank you for your dedication on those issues. Thank you. Commissioner orilely youre recognized five moonts. Thank you mr. Chairman Ranking Member<\/a> i do recall and members the subcommittee for the tune to discuss the important topic today. I commend the committee for the focus ob the federal commissions using and i recommit to making myself a procures if iic of assistance to the subcommittee in any manner i sin material si efforts of the subcommittee to economic the elements to the reorganizing. I believe its incredibly valuable and important anytime Congress Excuse<\/a> me. Anytime congress articilates its views including its funding level and subquent issues. Let me lend my strong support. I humbly suggest 15 additional process improvements in my written testimony that could be included in any reauthorize legislation. Many of these ideas will benefit being included in the statute so that future commissions continue. Additionally, i would be remiss if i had request to address the problem of pirate broadcasting. There appears to be great interest to provide additional federal funding for purposes of esh panding broadband capabilities to more pattern americans. One option been discussed is the potential to include one option epiin a new infrastructure bill. Additionally, to succeed at the next technological challenge, wireless providers are going to need two important ingredients. Access to sufficient mix of spectrum bands and reduced ens tuilation of wireless there remains obstacles that are hampering the ability of providers to serve americans. On another topic, as chairman pie noted, its in the early stages of impacter brought casters that didnt participate or one once selected in part of our process to allocate broadband spectrum for analysis. Well, the commission will need to scan and review broadcast estimates. It does appear there may be a need of Additional Resources<\/a> from congress. Finally, subcommittee should keep a close eye on the repacking estimates and may want to initiate a legislative draft process soon. Firth, if its determined i would fully support such action and would gladly help the subcommittee and grass in anyway. That concludes my testimony. Thank the gentleman for his testimony. This concludes the testimony portion. And we will now move to the questions. And i will begin by recognizing myself for five minutes. As many of you have said, and weve seen in these Opening Statement<\/a>s there is an ongoing dispute about the impact of title 2 reclassification on investment. We hear it doesnt hurt. We hear it does hurt. And in a lot of ways, this is the key metric of the debate as the one thing we can agree on is investment is the key to massive broadband deployment that we need to connect to all americans of the internet. And it affects education, health care, Economic Development<\/a> and jobs. We need an investment estimated of 130 to 150 billion in order to meet our needs. So private investment is critical, but i fear we have pit a kink in that investment pipeline with title 2. As i noted in my opening, we are seeing decreasing Capital Expenditures<\/a> by our largest broadband providers. But some of my colleagues contend to otherwise based on different studies measuring different parameters. Senator marquee continued that no publicically traded isp has reported to its investors that title 2 has negatively impacted investments and their networks. But chairman pie, have you seen any impacts title 2 is having on broadband providers . We have seen evidence raised that suggests concerns these changes have impact investment. For example, we have culled the 10ks of those isps. Each of them has suggested these title 2 regulations do in fact represent significant risk with business. And additionally ive heard from myself amongst smaller providers these rules have impacted Infrastructure Investment<\/a>. I held a round table just a couple of weeks ago in maryland where they told me they explicitty pulled back on one kind of broadband deployment because of these rules. So we can figure out what the facts are and again make the appropriate judgment. Thank you for that. You know, i kind of chuckled a little bit. The New York Times<\/a> had an article i think it was this weekend, saying that infrastructure is fast becoming an afterthought. They want to talk about broadband more than anything else, and they dont care how they get it. And mr. Chairman, you were kind enough to come to my district, and this was something we had planned last fall and executed in february and did a broadband seminar. And you talked about some ogthf things the commission is doing to make it easier for providers to deploy wired and wireless broad bapd. And just touch on some of those components, things that you all can do that will help ease the way to achieving the goal we all want, which is to have the country serve broadband. Thank you for the question. Two big buckets of reform one involves the subdy programs we over see and other involves regulatory reforms. The first full month as chairman adopted funds to our Mobility Fund<\/a> to make sure both let and broadband are pushed up. On august 3rd were going to be taking those next steps to ensure those happen in a timely way. I setup a Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee<\/a> in cooperation with other agencies, federal, state, and local can cooperate. Weve taken steps to remote things like the great easier sighting, make it easier to deploy the fiber. These might not be the highest profile issues the agency works on, but in terms of your constituents and i dare say the constituents around the country, this is the number one thing to impact. Thank you for that. Now, i will just note the repack we think is also important as we look at the broadband deployment and the estimates have been filed and the process has been started. And we need to give that some time to play out. But were going to be watching the repack. At this time i yield five minutes to the Ranking Member<\/a> mr. Doyle for questions. Thank you very much. Mr. Cliver let me ask you regard to the opening internets and comments coming in. You talked to people, what gives you pause in repealing the rule . What gives me pause is hearing what they say they need and what the internet enables. In our conversations a lot of times we only talk about one part of the equation. But if youre really talking an equation, youre really talking about two parts. What is the investment, what do people need, and what they can afford. So we really need to talk about what this investment means in the communities, what expectations they have when they start their businesses in l. A. And what im hearing from people is they want options, opportunities, and they want to be protected by an agency that im afraid right now is turning their back on. Thank you. Commissioner, riley what would cause you to oppose . As i said, i previously expressed my thoughts on the issue at length. And im looking to the record to determine if anything changes my mind. Im looking at substantive comments over so give me an example of a substantive comment. Economic analysis and real evidence of harm to the consumers versus some of the material ive been getting on the comments so far. People talk about 12 million comments. Many of those comments are empty and devoid of any value in my opinion. Im sure there are a few empty, but i hope you will go through those comments and well hold you to that analysis. Chairman pie, the same question for you. What kind of comment would cause you to change your mind and not go forward . I think, congressman, as commissioner riley point udout if theres Economic Analysis<\/a> if theres credible evidence of these of an open internet and without them theres no way theyd be able to thrive that americas internet economy would suffer, that is some of the evidence we take seriously. And that is part of the reason i said last week in my confirmation hearing we did not want to issue to simply declare that these rules would be void. I hope youre looking at that. I will hold you to that analysis. And i hope that as these comments are coming in, and 12. 3 million comments at least in the time ive been in congress, is more Public Comment<\/a> than ive seen on any other issue before the fcc. Im certain amongst them are that type of analysis. I hope you Pay Attention<\/a> to them. Let me ask you another question, mr. Chairman. It seems to me the analysis youve cited ubisp investment seems to be onesided. You talk about broadband in isps alone buts you discount investments made by edge providers. If the thesis of an open Internet Order<\/a> was to promote this Virtuous Cycle<\/a> of innovation and line, why arent you talking about edge providers, the investments theyre making and the jobs theyre creating . I appreciate the question, congressman. The great challenge, however, is theres millions of americans and ive visited them, on the wrong side of the divide. Theyre not getting the access they need to be able to participate in the digital economy. And to extent these rules are impacting Infrastructure Investment<\/a>, my fear is those are going to be left out in terms of better education and headache and the like. And so we want to understand how are these rules impacting Infrastructure Investment<\/a>, and along with that what are the effects of Infrastructure Investment<\/a> on these types of companies . Ive been to feed lots and ive seen the power broadband can bring. A few weeks ago in fisherville, virginia, the power you can have of treating a broadband patient before they arrive to the hospital. And these are critically important. Those Core Investments<\/a> in the network are critical if every american is going to be able to thrive in the 21st century. My time has expired, but i hope we have time to submit more questions for the fcc response. The gentlemans request is noted. Thank you. I now recognize the chairman of the full committee, mr. Wallbman. Thank you for enlightening with your comments and testimony. Chairman pai has talked about continued Net Neutrality<\/a>. Are you opposed to open net nutrality . Chairman, ive said that i agree with it. Do you oppose it . I am not opposed to net trutrality but using the traungest toolgz to up hold it. Do you oppose with net nutrality . Currently the definition means that every packet has to be treated identically, and that to me is not supported by the current activities of the internet. So i dont support that definition of neutrality, no. I guess one of my questions are replied comments are due fairly soon. And chairman pai, you expect to act quickly once the record closes . What are your thoughts in terms of time lines, not decision. Mr. Chairman, were going to move as promptly as we can. But we are bound by the administrative procedure act to find substantial evidence for whatever conclusion we reach. And we are going to review the record fully and fairly to make sure we reach the appropriate judgment. And were more concerned of getting it right then getting it done quickly. In terms of getting more transparency in the process of the fcc, making more of what you do more public sooner so more people can participate in the process we all value. All right, are there issues in this graph that were looking at its a discussion graph, too, for all my colleagues. We put it out there well in advance so we can gets input and make it bipartisan. And hopefully there are bipartisan issues in it. Do you care to comment about what were putting forward and your thoughts on it and how it might be affected by implementation of these changes . I think theyre largely improvements on the way the fast does business. And i find myself broadly in support. For example, i think theres bipartisan agreement on relaxing the sunshine act restriction. I love to see them together at the commission more often so we can collaborate in ways that benefit the Public Interest<\/a> and the fccs Decision Making<\/a>. Thats been a bipartisan piece of this discussion draft i think all along. Mr. Cliver, you wish to comment on some of this . I know things have i noticed. Are you mere in favor of some of the transparency of our bill now or im more in favor of us being able to do especially, ive been talking about that for the last number of years. If theres not a final Decision Making<\/a> process before us, us week able to talk about things building up to. And so i think that with the proper notice and proper protections, that enhances transparency and Decision Making<\/a>. And i will be for any platform that will allow that to happen. And making the draft text public ahead of time, do you support that. Meaning our internal support draft, were still in an evaluation mode. So far i havent heard any major complaints. Okay, good. Commissioner riley, what about what were putting here for considerations . I support the draft legislation has been put before us. I think i put 15 new ideas in my testimony that could be included if youre so inclined to do so. I think the text itself reform is valuable. I probably would go a little further. But im not trying to criticize the provision. I just dont know how often we would use it. I think its a very important step for the committee. Okay. Chairman pai, do you want to comment on that . If i could just add one observation in addition to what i said previously. One caveat i would add is that Enforcement Matters<\/a> for due process and other reason, sometimes it it may be practical for us to publish those, and thats the one note of caution i would add. There are differentcursions when it comes to law Enforcement Matters<\/a>. Thats a good point. I realize my time has expired. Thanks to all of you. Again, we appreciate your suggestions, your counsel and how we might get this right because thats what we want to do is make the fcc the role model for good trance apparent process. I yield back. Gentleman yields back. Mr. Malone for five minutes. I wanted to ask two questions. One to you, chairman, and one to commissioner clyburn. One ls details how your policies have been i wanted to give you a chance to respond to those allegations and specifically can you tell us what the administration has said either to you or to anyone in your office about sinclair or the uhf discount . Thank you for the question, dprszman. No one in the white house or the administration generally has made any representations to me about any fcc relating to that company. Theyve not asked me to take any particular action or discussed the views on theimators. And what about the press accounts that have detailed how your policies have benefitted sinclair group, did you want to respond to that . Chairman congressman, i would be happy to do so. If you look at your actions, theyre not designed to benefit one segment. With respect to uhf discount, its a Pretty Simple<\/a> matter. To the extent that the agency considers the uhf discount reforms, it also has to consider the national cap. The point is simply made then and i make to you today is that the two go together. One cannot consider a without considering b. Thank you. Let me ask commissioner clyburn, i plan to file comments at the fcc in the next few weeks that explain how Net Neutrality<\/a> protections at the fcc is essential to protecting free speech online and jobs across the country. Now the gop and the members of the commission focus on the Legal Authority<\/a> of the fcc, but in my opinion ignore the benefits of Net Neutrality<\/a>, that would be lost if its repealed. I think it details potential costs of regulations without mentioning these benefits. So i jus want to ask you if you could tell me what in your opinion benefits exists with strong Net Neutrality<\/a> protectionsats fcc and what would be lost with repeal . In terms of the benefits, when you have a Small Business<\/a> owner that might be worried or worried her website or experience would be throttled or negatively impacted, thats the type of uncertainty that no Small Business<\/a> should worry about when it comes to the most enabling platform of our time. When it comes to people being able to access, you know, a headache website or their professional health care professional, for anybody to wonder whether or not some traffic would be favored one or the other, that is a very unsettling. So when we talk about strong, open internet rules what were talking about is the capacity for all of our communities, all of our businesses, all of our individuals to have access, to be better thems, to be Better Business<\/a> owners, to have access to content that will be able to educate and inspire. So its very important for the rules of the road to be clear, for people to know that theyre protected or this platform toby open and free and transparent. If not, youre going to have bottlenecks that will throttle experiences and throttle economic and other opportunities. Well, thank you so much. Let me go back to the chairman since i have time for a third question. Last week i introduced the viewer protection act, and this bill would provide extra funds for the incentive action repacking process to make sure consumers dont lose access to the local stations they rely on. And i also appreciate your statements that you believe Congress Needs<\/a> to act to provide additional funds to this effort. Now, one issue in my bill that i think has been over looked is making sure consumers are properly educated about the process and what they need to do to keep their signal. And im particularly concerned about communities that rely on the funding. Can you explain your plans to make sure consumers know how to keep their signal . I guess you have 20 seconds, but well see. Thank you for the question, congressman. And first and foremost i commend you for that legislation. Youve tackled the issues of viewers around the country. The fcc has not been allocating funding by congress specifically for that function. We obviously want to do as much out reach as possible to let people know if theres going to be a channel reassignment or others to impact to view their station of choice. Thank you. Thank you, madam chairwoman. Gentleman yields back. Vicechairman lance youre recognized for five minutes for questioning. Thank you, very much madam chair. Regarding the 2015 internet rules, your opinion, i think theres at least one matter of which we should be able to agree. That a legislative fix is possible to pingponging we have seen play out recently at the fcc. Anything the fcc has done in this policy space has proven to be temporary, and i dont think thats good Public Policy<\/a>. I believe a vast amount of the agencys scarce resources have gone into this issue for the last ten years or so. And so to the chair and to the distinguished members of the commission, i ask each of you the following question. What would provide better sernlt for broadband providers, online users and Internet Users<\/a> . Continue changing internet regimes or legislation to establish Clear Authority<\/a> and bright line rules of the road that protect consumers and innovators and encourage investment . And i will start with you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, congressman. I believe better legislation would provide better certaintity to consumers aleak. Commissioner. I believe we already have certainty. I believe wave already followed the guidelines. Title 2 has been up held by the courts. And if i might followup, you dont favor any amendment of title 2 in this area . I will reserve judgment on that. I will favor anything that will improve and enhance our ability to connect america. And was title 2 initiated, as i said it, in the 1930s . Is that right . Youre probably right. Something to check, so i get a d minus for not knowing the answer to that precisely. Ill get that back to you. If you get a d minus, im probably at the level of f. So well Work Together<\/a> onnw\u00f7 th. Commissioner oreilly. I fully support legislation. Thats the only way well get a lasting peace on that issue. There kaept be clear rules of the road. We have a general conduct standard. So i think that legislation is the only way to draesds this issue. And commissioner oreilly, has there ever been a definitive ruling by the Supreme Court<\/a> of the United States<\/a> on this issue the. No, there has not. Is that the consensus of the commission that this has not been fully addressed by the Supreme Court<\/a> . Commissioner pai, chairman pai . When you say roughly ten years age, a little more than ten years ago, yes. Given the response of the members of the fcc and of course i hope there will be a full complement of commissioners, i think we should continue to pursue this question because i think the public deserves certainty in this area as do those in the community but certainly in my judgment this is paramount for the American People<\/a>. Another issue, chairman pai, it is critically important the United States<\/a> wins the race by g as it means significant investment and job creation here. A recent report has suggested that 5g will have increased gdp. Im concerned other contraz may get their first including china, japan, and even the eu, a series of countries. In your opinion how important is it to make sure the United States<\/a> wins the race regarding 5g . It is absolutely critical, congressman. And i do think americas internet economy has demonstrated itself over the years to be the most innovative. Butfurcatesg heralds the most special ability when it comes to high broadband applications and low bandwidth applications. We want those companies and technologies to develop in the United States<\/a>. Those are high quality jobs that could develop across the country. And we are focused on securing that prize as best we can for the United States<\/a>. Thank you. Commissioner clyburn, your thoughts. Im looking forward to working and continuing to do thingsane an expedited manner. We need to mike sure no part of this country should be out of what the opportunities 5g has to offer. Thank you, my time has expired. And ill followup up with you commissioner oreilly later. Madam, chair. And mr. Wellture, recognized for five minutes. Thank you very much, madam chair. I have five minutes, and i have three points. One about the open internet. Number two broadband and number three the rural fund. Just to comment on the open internet, everybody says theyre for the open internet. The question i have is why change the existing regime where everyone agrees there isnt an existing open internet . A lot of folks in the public are concerned that that wont be the case. So thats a question i think the proponents of change have to answer, why change it . Second, Rural Broadband<\/a>, chairman pai as you know its incredibly important to those of us in vermont, working with mr. Kramer as well, to have open internet. In the promise of the 1996 act has been broken. Rural internet is not the same speeds and the same capacity as we have in urban areas. Theres now a potential opportunity with the repacking in the white space as youre aware. And theres a challenge, because we want to make sure that our broadcasters have signals that are strong and they dont suffer interference. But there are many now who are seeing that this white space is a technological development, it provides an opportunity for inexpensive build out in effect of broadband. And the question i have for you is where you are on that and where the fcc is on that. Anything we can do to get that broadband out and the deployment is a financial issue, i want to do. So can you graesz that . Absolutely, congressman. I share your ethos as you addressed it im talking white space now, though. Were still notice early stages of study. Just a couple of weeks ago i visited microsofts project in virginia. And i talked to some of the students about that issue. Were effectively studying it and working with stakeholders to figure out so if we can find this technological sweet spot where were able to protect the signal of our broadcasters, thats important in Rural America<\/a>, too. We have that white space where there is a promising opportunity affordably to build out. Youre going to be aggressive . If the facts and law permits it, we will. I have long talked about whies spices in particular in Rural Communities<\/a> and communities where business cannot be made. The promise is there, and i will definitely be the wind beneath that to push that along. Thank you. And commissioner oreilly. I will say i dont support them setting aside full power broadcast stations. So it becomes a fight between the two and the broadcast band for power. Let me just say as a rural person im urgeling you in the industry to find a way to protect that broadband signal but to get broadband in the rural areas. Its got to happen. Mobility fund, the second issue thats important to us in Rural America<\/a>, there is going to be action on that. And the question i have mr. Chairman pai, depending on how the project is how the information is provided, therell be an opportunity for challenge from some of the rural providers who contest how the decisions are made. And theyve got to be given an opportunity to do that. Can you assure us that the commission is moving forward with rural next week that will ensure that the Data Collection<\/a> process will lead to a coverage mab that accurately, accurately reflects the current broadband makeup, in that it allows for smaller carriers and this is really important to us to have adequate time to potentially challenge data that they believe in their own work is inaccurate . Chairman. In working with my colleagues in the next nine days, we hope to get across the finish line. Youre willing to let them have a seat at the table to challenge the carriers are my colleagues, so thats the goal you heard that last thing on the record. One of things i have bip pushing and the chair will affirm this, i have been pushing for a robust ohm challenge. That is important. And its important for that information to be granular. Thank you. Madam chair, my last four seconds, i want to say thank you to commissioner clyburn. I would conquer with that. But why dont we give commissioner oreilly an opportunity to answer. Im giving him the opportunity to answer. Thats fine. So the gentleman yields back. Mr. Shichl ks, youre recognized for five minutes. Thank you. Im going to pick a few. First of all, its no surprise just to chairman pai on next generation 911, you know we passed that act of 2012. Weve talked about this between ourselves the last couple of weeks. There was a grant Program Designed<\/a> but was never initiated by the fcc. We all know money is needed. But what else can be done to help move next generation 911 forward . Congressman, i appreciate the question. We certainly are great for for the promise of 911. I visited a 911 call center that was using it to deliver functionality that struditional calls dont have. It is an Ip Based Technology<\/a> as you know, so promoting the ipbased and encouraging the transition is absolutely vital. Without it, some of these Public Safety<\/a> answering points which dont have had money themselves to fund that transition are going oo be left in the lurch. Wed be happy to work with members of the committee to figure out if there are legislative tools as well that we can support. We know there was a Grant Program<\/a> authorized but never initiated. So really we need to find out obviously thats an issue. But then what else can we do . I do think the communitys struggling to try to get to where they want to be, and time is of an essence in the 911 world as we all know. Let me go to commissioner oreilly and just talk weve had other subCommittee Hearing<\/a>s, and the buzz is that there may or may not be an infrastructure bill. And we would always say i think members on this subcommittee, both sides would say if theres an infrastructure bill, obviously broadband deploymentary that are identified proently through a good mapping system should be aided and assisted. So if theres director funding to help dedeployment, what would be your vision on how that could best occur . My argument is that the committee should look to our High Cost Program<\/a> and run that universal service as a mechanism to distribute the funding. In the last administration we had an mtia program and some at the department of agriculture. I think those programs had more suspect and had a lot of difficulties. High cost has been something weve spent a considerable amount of time in trying to minimize the amount of subsidy needed and to target the funding to stretch as far as possible. And i think thats a valuable way to go. Thank you. And last but not least commissioner clyburn. Of course appreciate your passion, which has always been there, but i think your voice a little bit louder now, which is great. Can mobile broadband theres really two more questions. Can mobile broadband now fill some of the gaps in unserved areas, and if not do you see because you guys follow whats coming next sooner than a lot of us do if not, is that coming around soon . Well, i mentioned that i was in representative johnsons district, and moeb broadband is definitely necessary especially on those roads i did not have service, especially in those households they could only afford one connection. So mobile broadband is definitely has to be front and center, which is why were moving to the next phase of a mobility funld. But we can drop the ball when it comes to legacy. So it is a complement to entire etelecommunications and communications ecosystem. But we need to go where the people are. Over 300 of us have connectivity, but its not equal. I do want to address a bill that we passed through here, hr460 which addresses the completion problem that occurs. It really is addressing more accountability than just advisory. Whats your over all position on that bill . Congressman, i had a chance to study all the particulars about the bill, but i can say i do have the support of the commission to tackle all problems, not just the carriers but all internet providers, others nat chain so to speak. Anyone else want to comment on gnat. We have taken a proactive solution from the time you dial the phone to the expectation on the other end, theres a lot of variables there and a couple of players there. When you have three or four players between making that call and completing that call, thats a problem we need to notify and need to fix. One of the reason it exists is because some of our ant waited rules favor. Thank you, madam chair. Mr. Lubcheck for five minutes. Thank you, madam chair. Its pretty fascinating talking on a lot of these different issues. I usually go through a litany of reasons why thats so important. But im not going to do that. I want to say one thing before i ask questions, this isnt just a rural urban issue as you all know. These things are tied together. So in iowa, in vermont, if we have an urban hospital that wants to do telemedicine, with rural areas its great the hospital has sufficient bandwidth to be able to do that. But whatever the dace may be in rural areas, doesnt, the area is going to be effected as well. So its not just rural, urban, those areas are tied together. And i think we often forget about that and we just think in rural terms or urban terms. Everybodys in this together. Thats my speech for the day. Now i have some questions. Chairman pai, as i know i was the original draft for the world wireless access act. We have a lot of different issues when it comes to mapping and how were trying to figure out what areas are covered and which areas are not. And that legislation required the fcc to establish Standard Service<\/a> definitions, collected state on wireless coverage in a reliable and efficient way. Because i think we can all agree that hasnt necessarily been the case in the past. And i understand the fcc has recognized the problemwise the data. Where are we on that right with creating the new data, and will it meet the requirements of my bill for the data to be robust and reliable and standardized . Chairman. It is certainly our hope, congressman that it is worthy of the legislation. Next were going to be voting on some of those steps. We had a decision to make at the getgo. Do we really on theidate taw collection we got. We decided to go down the latter road because we recognized that some of it data we had wasnt sufficient. So Going Forward<\/a>, we want to make sure if the map says theres coverage, there is in fact coverage. And if the map says there isnt coverage, we direct funding to those areas. Well, can you commit to me today itll meet the requirements of my bill . Certainly the spirit of it, well do our best to achieve. It is Pretty Simple<\/a>, just making sure to best of our ability, obviously, that the data will be robust and standardized. Thats certainly in our draft, and well be voting on august 3rd. Ms. Clyburn. The challenge there is how do you get defer providers to compress and conform on different matters. Thats the challenge here. But the objective is there. How do we mesh that, thats the challenge were working to fix. And chairman pai, you were up there i have no doubt when you were traveling, you probably ran into some issues. It was incredible. Driving down, i mean how many times i had to mention to my colleague in the car, were just going to have to talk now because we have the inability to check emails or make phone calls and the like. And its really a gap. Imagine if youre a patient who needs to make a 911 call or imagine if youre a farmer whose productivity depends on having precision agriculture, and those are the connections that really do matter. So its not just professional interest for me, and i dare say for my colleagues its a personal interest for all Rural America<\/a>ns get that connectivity. Mr. Oreilly. Ive been pushing for greater data. Theres a cost to how granular you can get, but i think its important. Well, i want to get this bill passed and signed into law by the president. Because i just think there is very, very significant bipartisan support for this. And again, mentioning its not just rural areas but connection to urban areas as well. Its absolutely critical. So thanks to all of you, and madam chair, i yield back. Gentleman yields back. At this time i recognize the skraem for five minutes. Thank you, very much madam chair. And thank you to our distinguished panel. Id like to start my question to you commissioner oreilly. And i want to thank you again for your interest and coming out to my district just this past year. I think its important that folks back hominids that folks at the fcc are truly listening to their concerns. And i really introduced a bill, hr39 if those items are given a delegated authority identification number. This would ensure the commission is appropriately delegating items and not passing decisions others to end cases where items pose new and novel questions of policy. Im pleased to see my bill has been included in the discussion draft before us today. I believe you agree with this policy. However, in your testimonyia mentioned this provision could go further. Would you mind commanding on the ways in which we could improve the language in the draft the. Sure. The bill is an identification and notification. The commission is required to tell people when its delegating authority, which is a step of imp provement we have today. But i think you have to get to insecond question, what do you do with the notification. Its whether we as a commission get an opportunity to vote on those items. The last commission i was voting one out of every nine items. We should have the ability to pull up some items we think should be voted on by the full commission. But we have to do that in a way, opinion, that doesnt delay the items. So we put forward a plan i think would be away to mail all parts of the equation and also do it in a timely manner. Well, thank you. Chairman, pai and chairman oreilly, i want to thank you coming out to meet with smaller telecons, and appreciate it. And you understand the issues we all have out in our rural sections of the country. It directs the fcc to review its regulations every two years and repeal or modify those rules it determines have been made unnecessary due to economic competition. Has the fcc consider on a regular basis the impact of its rules on the smaller providers, and wouldnt the Public Interest<\/a> benefit from a regular review of whether theres a good cause to exempt small entities from these fcc regulations . Great question. I do think as part of our review or simply a is stand alone project, it would be grat for the fcc to think about the businesses. These are companies who simply dont have the wherewith all to compete with if so could you highlight some of the areas where Additional Authority<\/a> from congress in the fcc may be needed . Thank frz question. There are several of them. First would be the gigabit act. That would go a long way to providing not just the fcc but the country for providing a blueprint for low income and rural areas. Secondly, it would help to have Additional Authority<\/a> to pull attachments. Right now we dont have control ofological of the rules. Itd be helpful to have that. Third, it doesnt necessarily effect the fcc directly, but makes dig ones, would be great to see that. We are trying to take whatever steps we can to ensure greater coordination between agencies so single point of contact at various agencies. And theres way that congress could urge that effort forward, that would be extremely helpful. Yaung, i yield back. Gentleman yields back, and at this time we go to the author of dig ones for five minutes. Welcome mr. Clarman and members of the commission. I hope the next time we meet well have a full commission. Its wonderful to see you, and its important that youre here. I have an observation first. And that is and its with some curiosity that i raise this. The chairman of the full committee asked each one of the commissioners if they supported that neutrality. And each one said yes with some additional comments. Now, chairman pai, your chairmanship rests on the alter of unraveling Net Neutrality<\/a> as we know it. So with all due respect to you, i dont i dont think its a credible statement for you to say that you support it. Because everything that ive read about what youve said is the promise to unravel Net Neutrality<\/a> with its protections. And so its easy to say im against blocking, im against throttling, im against whatever. Who is going to enforce that . Who, how . And so its an observation. But i think its an important one to place on the record. Ive raised this before in previous hearings with previous witnesses when they bring up the whole economic case, and the chilling of investment in our country because of the handful of sections that are part of title 2 that were applied to Net Neutrality<\/a>. And we know that publicly Held Companies<\/a> and their ceos when they make a statement to their shareholders under penalty of law, have to be truthful. And i cant find anything in any record that states where a ceo has said because of title 2 theres a chill on the investments of the company that i represent. Now, you say youre studying it. How are you going to are you going to compare the statements made by executives to their shareholders, which i said under penalty of law have to be truthful to the comments that are filed by those same companies in the proceeding that youre undertaking . Congresswoman, were going to attest to all the facts in the record im asking you a specific question. Yes. Are you going to take the comments of the ceos to their shareholders and compare and contrast them with the comments that they place to the fcc on this matter . And with those facts in the record, absolutely are you going to compare and contrast them . It depends on what facts on the record, absolutely. It depends on 10ks and the statements thats good. I think its important to note here that a recent poll found that 70 of voters and at least 71 of americans think the internet has improved over the last few years. So this is not the big isps. Theyre talking about everyone, everyone that is a part of this e ecosystem. And i really think thats being over looked. I think that youre being selective about what you want to read and what you want to hear. If it fits with the position you stated before you became chairman and since youve became chairman, then it doesnt count. And i so i dont youre not a level playing field. And thats your prerogative. But i dont think coming here today and saying im for Net Neutrality<\/a> is really a credible statement. I want to raise rt, which is russian television. But they changed the name so people wouldnt know who they were. Theyre operating in our country. And id like to know i didnt understand your response. You stated what you can do at the commission. Can you tell us what your commitment is to do from the commission . Because in both in a classified setting, the Congress Heard<\/a> the Intelligence Community<\/a> speak to it. In the declassified Public Document<\/a> it is replete with references to rt. Theyre operating in our country, and id like to know what role you believe that the fcc should play in this. They are spreading prup ganda in our country. Thank you, congresswoman. The question here is wrpt with respect to fcc i understand. Those rules apply to broadcasters. I want to know what you believe the fcc can do about this. Congresswoman, for answering the question its with respect to d rules, enforcing those rules with respect to are you prepared to do that. We will always enforce our sponsorship, yes. Well, why havent you begun to do so . Congresswoman, im not aware have you read the declassified report . I have not, congresswoman. I would like you to read that and ill follow up with you. Thank you. Ladies time has expire wrd, and now we go to mr. Guthrie for five minutes. Thank you, for yielding for the time. I have worked with my friend and enjoy working with my friend over the years on spectrum issues. And just like week we had the opportunity to host a spectrum caucus on 5g. I want to followup on some things and open up about whats in the panel spectrum pipeline. So the notice of inquiry is the Commission Also<\/a> looking at reallocating other bands that the industry may be able to reaggregate with existing licenses to create similar large bandwidths are there additional ones in general youre looking at . There are simply people interested in the future of wireless invasion. We at the sec, too, are actively studying that issue to figure out if there are ways we can allocate high or large swatches of spectrum for bandwidth allocations. Midband noi, we focus in particular with three dot seven, five dot nine, and 6. 5 gigahertz. I think thats the best way to give innovators the tools they need. Do you allow any time frames for statutory deadline snz. Theres no particular time frames. We anticipate longer time period, because we cant proceed from ainates of inquiry to directly final rules. But were hoping that of course for innovators we can move with the wireless dispatch and if there are trickier issues, bracket those for further discussion. Thank you. Commissioner oreilly, youve been vocal about rules for the 3 3. 5 gigahertz brand my apologies. So the commission is looking at rules to change the license tier for the 3 dot 5 gig ahearts band. The terms of the license are important. So both of those functions need to be changed. I am and hopefully will be able to look atx z that and a coupl other issue. And my goal is to have that completed by for all commissioners, what lessons shall we in Congress Learn<\/a> from the most recent auctions such as hbloc, 600 megahertz, that can be applied as we look to the future, and what we want to create the clearest possible rules of the road, so what can we build on and what shall we avoid . Commissioner, chairman, and then move down. Boy, thats a good question. I think first and foremost is to give the fcc the flexibility that it needs to identify spectrum bands that are ripe for auction. Secondly, to urge the fcc to set up an auction process that allows all participants to compete fully and fairly for that spectrum. Thirdly, to ensure that the fcc has the tools it needs to ensure that the spectrum is used for the public benefit. Last september i outlined my proposal to increase the buildout requirements particularly in rural areas to ensure that if this public resource is being allocated to a private entity, that private entity does in fact use it to benefit the public. Clyburn . We have to ensure that efficiencies are being met by those who win the right to build. Also i have been pushing more partial and smaller economic areas where it will indeed give persons, entities, regardless of size, not just the big players, being able to bid in this space. That is important, because those in your communities, those who have the capacity in your communities to serve a smaller footprint, they should be able to do so. That lesson should continue in subsequent auctions. In ten seconds can i kind of change a little bit, you consider, commissioner, the spectrum act a success . The amount of spectrum available is beneficial. I do believe, and this gets to the heart of your previous question, is that we imposed a number of policies that were problematic. We restricted the number of bidders, restricted the licenses, we should have had a more open structure. If you compare that to previous auctions, youll see theres a differential between the two. My time has ex murder ofpire. I yield back. Ms. Matsui, five minutes. Thank you, madam chairman. Im a supporter of lifeline and eray programs. Chairman pai, ive taken issue with many of your actions as chairman. One of the most troubling is the attack on live lyfeline, a prog that many across the country count on. A strong amount of support can make a huge difference. Under the last administration, the fcc made a lot of progress to start the process of lifeline reforms. As part of the fccs 2015 lifeline modernization order, the fcc began the process of creating the initial verifier for eligibility. This is an important check on a system that will make huge progress in making sure lifeline funding only goes where its needed the most. Chairman pai, could you provide us with a status update on where the fcc is with regard to implementing the National Verifier<\/a> . Thank you, congresswoman. It is not scheduled to be in operation in all states until 2019. We are working actively with usac to accelerate that time frame to the maximum extent possible. As identified in the gao report, many millions of dollars are being wasted in part because we cannot certify that every person getting a lifeline subsidy is eligible for the program. Okay. I just really think that thats not very much progress at this point in time. This is the hand we were dealt, congresswoman. Can you commit to providing this committee with quarterly reports on what the staff is doing to speed the implementation of the verifier . I would be more than happy to do that. I think its critically important. We need to safeguard against waste, fraud, and abuse, instead of continuing to attack lifeline. I know that commissioner clyburn has really been a champion of this also. What can we do to strengthen eray and Lifeline Program<\/a>s . We can ensure that we have the reports needed for us to better evaluate. What the chairman did not say is some of the reports were put on the back burner, rescinded, or werent released. Its hard for us especially when it relates to erate, to see how were doing and what we should be doing and what are the next steps. In lifeline, uncertainty abounds when it comes to that. We told nine providers, who spent millions of dollars to take part, that we approved, that no need to apply, you know, we just rescinded those applications. So what is happening is a lot of uncertainty in a program that can provide the most for the least, is in a state of flux. It was very unnecessary. Thank you. I hope the commission puts a lot more Energy Behind<\/a> this program. Commissioner clyburn, i share your belief that we need to be strengthening localism. And you point to diversity in our media. We have a strong tradition of diversity in local broadcasting in sacramento, as a way to keep our constituents informed. I know you have concerns about some of the fccs recent decisions on media, specifically rolling back the uhf discount. How is reinstating the uhf discount opening the door for greater consolidation in local broadcast markets . It will allow for a potential licensee to, under the cloak of darkness, to account for 50 of certain licenses. It would only show up at 50 . That means you would make the assumption theyre under your cap when they actually are not. Its technologically obsolete. And anything thats technologically obsolete will negligently impact. So you believe its under the cloak of darkness. Yes. I would like to give my time to congressman cardenas. Thank you. I wanted to submit my questions for the record. I appreciate this opportunity to hear from the commission. I just want to register some questions that i have and concerns to the merger between sinclair and tribune. And the massive outreach that they would have, and the mustrun content that they seem to be pushing on their local media. So thank you very much, madam chair. I yield back. The gentlelady yields back. Mr. Olson for five minutes. I thank the chair. Welcome, commissioner clyburn, commissioner riley, and chairman pai. Chairman pai, my questions concern spectrum for commercial uses. Spectrum pipeline act of 2015 called the identification and auction of 30 megahertz of spectrum by 2024. Is that 30 megahertz adequate to meet the industrys future needs . If its not, what can congress, ntia, and the fcc do to identify additional bands that could be made available for commercial use . Thank you for the question, congressman. I think the only constant in the Wireless World<\/a> is change. And that if we anticipate the 300 megahertz might have been sufficient in 2015, then innovators will find applications that require to us think even more broadly. We certainly want to pursue as many of those 300 megahertz as possible. But as i stated in my response to congressman giuthrie, were thinking as broadly as possible. To the extent that Congressional Authority<\/a> might be helpful in identifying further bands or giving the fcc to clear more bands, we would be happy to exercise that authority. In your opinion, what are the repercussions of not meeting spectrum needs over the next decade . What will happen if we blow it . The opportunity cost could be extremely significant. If youre in a rural area and that Wireless Connection<\/a> is necessary to stabilize a patient, it depends on a wireless spectrum. The demands on the network go up as the world goes wireless and we have to have that spectrum to meet those needs, licensed and unlicensed. Commissioner clyburn . Were working with our federal partners, you know, with ntia, to ensure were on the right track. Were being flexible. Were talking about an all of the above approach. Unlicensed, licensed, and shared spectrum. So i really think the momentum i know the momentum is there. We just need to shore up i think the Public Public<\/a> partnership side of the equation to make sure we keep pace. I would say that ive been pushing hard on millimeter wave band and midband to make more spectrum available for those purposes. One idea i put forward was agency spectrum fees, putting opportunity cost for federal agencies that hold spectrum, to try and make a mechanism that they would realize in their budgets in terms of holding spectrum. Because right now theres no cost for the hold licenses. That keeps that bottled up in the federal agencies. That would be one mechanism i would recommend to the committee for consideration. Thank you. Chairman pai, the fcc authorization draft legislation were reviewing today would establish a, quote, office of economics and data, end quote, within the fcc. Do you support this new office in the statute . How could this office help the commission do a better job with rulemaki rulemakings . Is this necessary . I strongly support the creation of this office, having proposed it in april, it has struck any over the years that for the Legal Function<\/a> a dedicated office, the office of general counsel. When it comes to economics, which arguably should guide a lot of our thinking in terms of cost benefit analysis and the like, the economists are sprinkled throughout the agency. That impairs our decisionmaking, gives the economists less of a feeling that theyre incorporated into the culture of that decisionmaking. It makes it hard for us to compete for the best and the brightest. Hopefully well be able to create this office in a way that inspires great big picture thinking from the terrific economists we have on staff. Sounds like we should keep it in the bill. I would be supportive of that. Commissioner oreilly, we can all agree on the benefits of the next generation of wireless, 5g. Unfortunately we also hear about the delay of sites and facilities which in some cases can take years. Skipper pai mentioned sites on federal land. What is the fcc doing and what more can it do in this regard. As a former navy aviator, how can Congress Help<\/a> the fcc meet the need for speed . There are a number of things at the commission, including the bdac, including the proceeds before us. Hopefully well conclude those in the near term. In addition, Anything Congress<\/a> can do to clarify the statute in terms of our authorities is very welcome. I think we have brought authority in this space, but Anything Congress<\/a> is willing to clarify would be very helpful. Thank you. My time, i yield back. Right on time he yields back. Mr. Ruiz, five minutes. Thank you, chairwoman. I want to thank the commissioner and chair for being here. I welcome the opportunity to discuss a couple of the issues today. Diving right in, i want to talk about broadband deployment. One of the most important tools the fcc uses to encourage broadband deployment is through the connect america fund, which helps make deploying and maintaining Broadband Internet<\/a> possible in remote and rural and underserved areas across their nation. These are areas like mecca, thermal, cochela in my district where i grew up, a rural, farm worker area, where we also have some tribes or a tribe that exists in that area. We know there are some classrooms in the cuchella valley where teachers have to print out a Youtube Video<\/a> and show it as slides so the kids can get the information. But also the cv Unified School District<\/a> and the community worked together to provide every student k12 an ipad to boost achievement and narrow that Digital Divide<\/a>. Oftentimes when i grew up, we had dilapidated books and we didnt have the most recent copyrighted book as well. Unfortunately, however, broadband deployment across the region remains spotty at best, limiting the ability for students to take full advantage of this technology. In december of 2015, i wrote to the fcc in favor of Frontier Communications<\/a> proposal to acquire verizons Wireless Network<\/a>s. And supporting their commitment in working together with my office to utilize the connect america fund to deploy high Speed Internet<\/a> in those underserved areas in my district. And i urge the fcc to support frontiers efforts to deploy broadband in my communities and to hold frontier accountable to their commitments to closing the Digital Divide<\/a> through their acceptance of connect america funding. So my first question to chairman pai, are you committed to ensuring all connect america funds recipients are fulfilling their responsibilities under the program . Absolutely, congressman, yes. How are you going to monitor that progress . Two ways, up front. We have required the participants to build out 40 of their territory by the end of this year, 20 by 2018, 20 by 2019, and the final 20 by 2020. If they do not build what they said they would build out, we would require accelerating thank you. This is obviously a Critical Program<\/a> not only for the families i represent but millions of americans who lack access to broadband. My next question is addressing the challenge of and in some cases the utter lack of diversity in media programming, ownership and viewpoints. For me this isnt about some statistic. Its about the children in our communities who deserve to see their stories, their communities, their experiences, their role models, their culture portrayed on the screen in a positive light. Its about giving our young people more inspiration and more role models to look up to on the screen and behind the screens. And when they believe they can dream big and fight to make those dreams come true, our nation as a whole reaps the benefits. I firmly believe we need to see real progress, real change, and were going to need to improve the diversity of those decisionmakers at the top. As weve seen, several mergers over the years in the evolution of how people consume media content, we must ensure that diversity in programming and content is not diminishing, as the agency who has overseen numerous mergers over the years, the fcc has a responsibility to take Public Interest<\/a> into account in determining whether to approve a particular proposal. Chairman pai, very briefly, if you dont mind, because i do have another question, does the fcc consider diversity when reviewing proposed mergers under the Public Interest<\/a> lens . That is one of the factors that goes into our analysis. Good. And commissioner clyburn, you have been a champion for this issue in the past. How do you think the fcc and congress can work to improve diversity on and off the camera . I think one reason, one way, is through ownership. Just stamping every merger that comes our way is not going to help in terms of diversifying the ecosystem. An Incubator Program<\/a> that i think will work extremely well, where we could possibly relax some of our ownership obligations, thats one proven way i believe we can further infuse and diversify the marketplace. Good, i look forward to working with you both on this particular issue in the future. Thank you. I yield back. Mr. Long for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Commissioner oreilly, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, during the proceedings to establish rules for the incentive auction, there was fierce debate about the bidding restrictions, setaside, and spectrum screens. Now that the auction is over, can you say with confidence whether the restrictions, the setasides, and the screens resulted in increased participation . I cannot in all honesty say they increased participation. I would say they decreased participation, that the restrictions decreased participation. They set aside spectrum for particular bands, for particular licenses, for particular winners. I think those rules were harmful to a free market and a free auction and the auction didnt generate as much as it it could have. I was going to say, were they necessary and beneficial, but i think youve answered that. This is for everyone. Ill start with chairman pai and go down the line. Netflix is the largest Pay Tv Service<\/a> in america in terms of subscribers and has a content budget of 6 billion including to produce its own exclusive content. Amazon prime which offers a premium and exclusive video programming will soon see its subscribers pass those of traditional Pay Tv Service<\/a>s such as a cable and satellite combined. Alphabets youtube now offers a Pay Tv Service<\/a> with programming no different than traditional cable and satellite to 35 of american households. My question is this. Do our communication laws and fcc regulations recognize and account for these new and Competitive Services<\/a> . Good question, congressman. I dont think they do. And part of the reason is that the laws have been frozen in place for a while. Thats why i think it would be helpful to have Additional Authority<\/a>, for example with respect to forbearance, it would allow the agency to modernize our rules to recognize some of those revolutionary changes you identified. Ill repeat the last part of the question for commissioner clyburn. Do our communication laws and fcc regulations recognize and account for these new and Competitive Services<\/a> . I would say yes and no. You know, we recognize part of the reason why you can mention all of those companies is the fact that we have an open internet, an open and vibrant ecosystem. I dont think we should discount that. That is very important. You would not have been able to say those alphabets, literally, several years ago. So i think we need to concentrate on that as much as, you know, recognizing that make we need to retool and continue to evaluate rules that are on the books. Okay. And commissioner oreilly, again, do you or excuse me, do our communication laws and fcc regulations recognize and account for these new and Competitive Services<\/a> . I would agree with my colleague and say yes and no. Sorry, sir. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Okay. In terms of title vi, i dont think it reflects the current marketplace. Thats what generally governs our video services. I think the law is out of the sorts with that. I think media ownership, we are required to look at those things and required to look at the broad ecosphere and whats happening in the marketplace. That does, i believe. We didnt do that in the last go round in the media ownership, the quadrennial review. The law does in some places, in other places it doesnt. It should be modernized had of. Thank you. With that, mr. Chairman, i yield back. The gentleman yields back. Mr. Mcnerney, five minutes. I thank the chair. Chairman pai, within two weeks of becoming chairman, you rescinded the fcc white paper on cybersecurity risk reduction, as well as the notice of inquiry on the 5g Wireless Network<\/a> and device security. You then moved to stay the Data Security<\/a> provisions of the broadband privacy rules. Meanwhile, we have seen more unsecured devices come to market and an increase in the attacks surface and the Largest Online<\/a> Ransomware Attack<\/a> in history. Im puzzled that you arent taking the agencys responsibility in the area of cybersecurity more aggressively, given that your own agency was attacked, was the victim of a denial of Service Attack<\/a>. Please answer with a simple yes or no. Will you commit to working with the committee to use your authorities to protect consumers against the growing cybersecurity threats . Yes. Chairman pai, on may 7th, after an airing of john olivers program that outlined the fccs efforts to roll back Net Neutrality<\/a>, the commissions electronic comment filing system went down. The fccs chief Information Officer<\/a> alleged that the agencys internal analysis found the website was hit by multiple ddos attacks. I find it troubling that the fcc could not produce any documentation on these attacks when asked to do so. Please answer with a simple yes or no, will you commit to turning over to this committee any reports, requests, memoranda and server logs related to this incident so we can get to the bottom of what happened here . Congressman, ill have to consult with the i. T. Staff and the attorneys to see if there are applicable technical or legal prohibitions or restrictions on doing so. To the extent i can, i would be happy to do so. You commit to that . Yes, sir. What is the answerings protocol Going Forward<\/a> for documenting ddos attacks . We consistently work with the staff to monitor the situation. They work with cloud providers to ensure they are able to scales as necessary to address challenges our system might have. Im happy to say theyve been able to do so successfully, judging from the voluminous comments weve received to date. So well have better visibility then, in future potential attacks . Sorry. In terms of what happened. What the attack consisted of. Yes, as i pointed out in the letter to senators wiyden and schotz, we outlined some of those facts and would be happy to produce it to the committee as well. The republican member of this committee sent you a letter asking that the commission use its authority under the Communications Act<\/a>. Since receiving this letter, has the commission taken any enforcement action or issued any guidance for using section 201 or 202 to protect consumer and broadband privacy . Not to my knowledge. Were still studying the issue, the letter that was sent over. Does the commission have any plans to use 201 and 202 to protect broadband privacy . The guidance issued in 2014 is still in force. Were happy to provide further detail if protected. Thank you. Commissioner clyburn, what broadband privacy protections can consumers rely on today . To my knowledge, although i am not a lawyer, none. We have basically gotten out of the business of protecting those online. We have made it clear that in terms of voice, were there for you. When it comes to broadband, that is up in the air. To say the fcc will be your savior, that is shortsighted in terms of looking at what their authority is. Startups are the key drivers to job innovation and job creation. How will the current proposals to roll back Net Neutrality<\/a> protections affect the ability of startups to thrive and compete . I think in terms of the fccs ability to do its job in terms of ensuring there is a way for us to ensure that there is broadband investment, oppose attachments and other types of conduits. It is questionable right now whether or not we have the authority or the ability to do anything to enable all of that. Moving in the direction which is proposed is going to cause is going to shortcircuit our ability to do the things that america expects. And thats to connect them in an expedited, legally sustainable way. Chairman pai, i understand you feel title ii rules inhibit investments. How can you test in an unbiased way the universality of your opinion since the rulemaking is lacking comments on the benefits of the existing rules . Congressman, to the contrary, we welcome those comments and we want to test the veracity of the statements made in the 10ks, the studies in the record. We arent proceeding by declaratory ruling, fiating the results. We want to base it on applicable law. Thank you. I yield back. Mr. Bilirakis, youre recognized for five minutes. Thank you, madam chair, i appreciate so much, and i thank the commissioners for their testimony today. Chairman pai, in past hearings, i questioned your predecessor on his proposal to close various fcc field offices, and the impact it could have on the radiofrequency interference complaint response times. At the time, you were also concerned that these closures could erode the fccs enforcement abilities. In the closing days of the last administration, the fcc closed 11 field offices, including one in tampa. I represent part of the tampa bay area, i think you know that. In light of these closures, what actions has the fcc taken to ensure that interference complaints continue to be timely addressed . Thank you for the question, congressman. Its no secret that i had substantial disagreements with the original reorganization plan that was proposed, because it would have impacted the field, including places like tampa. Going forward, we have tried to the best of our ability to use those resources in the field offices to aggressively attack issues like pirate radio that are a problem all across the eastern seaboard. And working with our Enforcement Bureau<\/a> staff, during my tenure weve issued two notices of apparent liability, 39 notices of unlicensed operations. Thats just on the enforcement side. In terms of our rules Going Forward<\/a>, we want to make sure we take every step we can to put pirates on notice that both the staff of the fcc headquarters and the field Office Enforcement<\/a> staff are cops on the beat to guard against that problem. Thank you very much. Next question, the commission has done a great job in the last few months bringing cases against scammers who violate the tcpa by making millions of unwanted robocalls to innocent consumers. I think we all agree the robocalls are a substantial Consumer Protection<\/a> problem. As a matter of fact, you know, i hear about it all the time from my constituents, and even family members. So chairman pai, could you tell us more about the fccs robocall enforcement efforts, and what makes it so difficult to identify these bad actors . Terrific question. This is the number one Consumer Protection<\/a> issue judging from what we hear from consumers across the country. We took that to heart. Weve already proposed the largest fine ever proposed by the fcc to go after a robocaller in florida who imposed 100 million robocalls in just three months on american consumers. Thats a 120 million proposed fine. Two weeks ago we proposed an additional fine to tackle another scammer who was essentially enabling others to make similar robocalls. We also set up on the rules side a were proposing to set up a reassigned numbers database so those legitimate callers who want to stay in touch with their customers are able to do so free from liability. Weve empowered callers carriers, rather, to take steps to block spoofed calls that appear to be coming from your area code or the first three numbers of your prefix but could be coming from another country, somebody masking their identified to get you to answer that phone. Were using every tool in the toolbox we can. Its very difficult. There are a lot of technical challenges. Thats why Going Forward<\/a> weve encouraged whats called a Call Authentication<\/a> anchor. If you see a number on your phone, you can be assured it is from the person who was assigned that telephone number. For a variety of reasons that we dont have time to get into, its very technicalically complex to do that. We have the best and brightest folks at the agency and the industry working together to try to figure out this problem. Very good. Thank you. Thanks for taking that action. Its so important to our constituents. Ensuring that our elderly and disabled populations retain full access to technology is very important to me. And again, we dont want our elderly or any constituents being bothered with these unwanted robocalls, as you know. But on another issue, just this month the fcc adopted rules to provide more radio described programming to blind and visually impaired americans. Chairman pai, can you describe what this will do for visually impaired population, and explain the timeline for implementation of the new standard . Thank you for the question, congressman. Im very proud of our work in this area. So many of the things that we talk about when were with our families involve movies or tv shows that weve seen. Imagine if the core scenes in the movie or a tv show required you to understand the nonverbal cues. Those are things that blind people simply cant take advantage of unless they have an audio description of whats going on. Thats why, working together, we advanced more video description capability, that is somebody narrating essentially the critical elements of a movie or film. This is Something Congress<\/a> gave us the ability to do. Weve exercised that authority to give those with disabilities the maximum chance to participate. Weve done that across a number of areas, with respect those who are deaf and hard of hearing, weve taken a number of steps to ensure they have the ability to enjoy Communications Services<\/a> as well. Using the tools congress has generously given us, we want all communities to be empowered, especially those with disabilities. Thank you for making it a priority, so very important that constituents have access. Thank you. The gentleman yields back. Ms. Dingel for five minutes. Thank you, chairman, thank you to all the witnesses. I know you like being here as much as going to the dentist. I want to talk about cybersecurity and build on my colleague mr. Mcnerneys questions. I know its important to members on both sides of the aisle. Its really a nonpartisan issue and its something weve got to get right. The distributed denial of Service Attack<\/a> that the fcc suffered on may 7th is concerning to all of us, especially because the commission has not been very forthright concerning what actually happened. Chairman pai, i do appreciate your response to some of senator wydens questions on this issue and mr. Mcnerneys, but i want to follow up on that. Youve presented your plan to address bottlenecks and would you update the member of this committee when the plan is implemented . Yes is the answer to the second question, congresswoman. With respect to the first, weve tried to ascertain how we can scale up to accommodate increased traffic in the system. Our i. T. Staff working with our providers have the ability to make sure if we anticipate great interest in a proceeding, were able to scale accordingly. That process has worked well as far as i know over the last several weeks and hopefully Going Forward<\/a> it will as well. Well be happy to keep you briefed. And let us know if there are problems again, as they occur. Thank you. Chairman pai, in october of last year, the dns provider dyne fell vick typically to a massive denial of distribution Service Attack<\/a>. The threat is only going to grow more and more as more and more devices are connected to the internet. I couldnt agree more, congresswoman. Cybersecurity is a critical issue. It seems we hear a story like that every month if not every week. The problem is that the fccs authority here is relatively circumscribed. If congress would give us Additional Authority<\/a>, we would be more than happy to administer it. As we read the act, we dont have the ability to directly issue, for example, cybersecurity regulations of the type that would address issues like that. Were in a consultative role with the department of Homeland Security<\/a> and other agencies. I personally have been briefed about some of the Cyber Threats<\/a> we see, i obviously can discuss those in open setting, but i can tell you we are focused on this issue and we would welcome any Additional Authority<\/a>. I think its great to hear that you are, because ive been worried that its all been shunted off to homeland, and maybe in a session we can work on what you think you need for authorization because i think the fcc has a critical role. Thank you. Switching gears to another top priority of mine, the Lifeline Program<\/a>. Its critical to so many hard working americans across the country. Americans are living paycheck to paycheck and struggling to get by in the new economy. All of us have constituents like this. And we see them every weekend when we go home. We cant afford to leave americans behind. Im going to ask all of the commissioners this. Do each of you, to each of you, will you commit that you wont take lifeline away from these hard working americans by artificially limiting the Lifeline Program<\/a> . Congresswoman, im not sure what you mean by artificially limiting the program. Ive said consistently that lifeline is an important program. I am actually concerned about the program. Im concerned about the posture. Im concerned about the rhetoric. If we do not fix it as opposed to criticizing it, then this program will be in jeopardy. I have no interest in dismantling lifeline. Im not sure what you mean by your question. Im happy to work with my colleagues. There are a number of improvements that need to be made in this area including having a budget for the program. I will expand more on that in questions after. Im going to do a really fast one. Commissioner clyburn, do you think rolling back Net Neutrality<\/a> would undermine free speech online . Why or why not . Absolutely. I think if any outside force is able to influence or limit where you can travel or where you can access online, that is very limiting, not only, you know, to free speech, but other enabling opportunities that you may have. One more. As someone with a vibrant Small Business<\/a> community in my district, ive heard from many of them that rolling back Net Neutrality<\/a> could undermine their growth in jobs. Submissioner clyburn, would would Small Businesses<\/a> be so uniquely affected by the rollback of Net Neutrality<\/a> . Because they dont have the power of being able to buy more expanded, Robust Service<\/a> offerings or faster speeds. We heard from a lady in congressman johnsons district who lost 3 or 400 a month because of throttling and her inability to enhance and to promote her artwork. These are very real problems that are happening to very real people. If they dont have a level playing field, it will continue. Thank you, madam chairman. The gentlelady yields back. Mr. Kinzinger, five minutes. Thank you, madam chair, for holding the hearing. To the commissioner, thank you for being here today. Im pleased to see the fcc reauthorization discussion draft includes provisions from legislation i introduced in the last congress that would require the fcc to publish the draft of any item thats circulating at the commit. Im pleased to see the fcc reform act included in the bill that i cosponsored. [ inaudible ] im very encouraged by the efforts already made. While its already been a few months, what benefits have you seen from some of the reforms youve implemented . Thank you, congressman. Its been tremendous. The first and foremost reform is a Pretty Simple<\/a> one, letting the American People<\/a> know what were going to do at our Public Meetings<\/a> at least three weeks before we do it. Thats something we have been told for legal reasons we couldnt do or for policy reasons we shouldnt do. But in my second week i instituted that reform. I adopted commissioner clyburns suggestion to accompany those items with a onepage fact sheet that explains in english what were doing. The results speak for themselves. People, including members of congress, are able to see the specific details of what the agency is proposing to do. Ill say for myself its made the meetings we have internally about those proposed items much more productive, instead of this game of telephone where one party says we hear that x, y, and z is in the item, can you confirm, and the commissioner or the commissioners staff has to say, well, we cant discuss it in Public Information<\/a> but you might be on the right track. Those meetings dont happen anymore because everyone can see whats in it, or we focus on the meat of the issue, chairman, youre wrong for this reason, youre right for that reason. Other process reforms have been similarly helpful. We certainly look forward to more of those in the time to come. Good. We have draft legislation that seeks to advance that even farther. Ill start by asking you, and turn to your colleagues briefly, what do you see in the legislation that will be helpful and what tools might we be considering as this legislation advances . A lot of good ideas in the process reform section of the bill. Obviously the creation of the office of economics and data is something im very supportive of. I think it would be helpful to create a culture of big picture economic thinking at the agency and having congresss support would aid that mission. Making sure we institute more deadlines for Commission Action<\/a> is something that i would certainly commend to the committees attention. Thats one of the things that we talked about before, is that the agency can accept all these petitions and applications but theres no accountability on the back end because we have no deadline for acting. Having deadlines ,deadlines, has would help the commission do its work. Its important for us not to disclose the content of actions until after the commission has voted. Thats one area where were restricted by considerations of due process. Ill be a onehit wonder and talk about the sunshine rules. I was chair of the universal Service Joint<\/a> boards. And that was definitely a barrier to communication. So, you know, pushing that ahead is positive. To the now current chair. Thank you. I support the bill. I think theres many good improvements to our process. I think the sunshine, as i mentioned to the chairman of the full committee, that the sunshine changes probably could go broader in my opinion. I think theyre a little limited. Theyre improvement, so ill take them. Im not sure theyll be used all that often. I put forward 15 ideas in my testimony that i think could be added to the bill to make it a little stronger. There are things i was pushing when i was a minority commissioner and have advocated, it doesnt matter from the minority or majority. Im worried not about this commission, i think chairman pai has been a great leader in improving the accountability and transparency. Its two, three, four chairmans from now that im worried about. Thats benefits to codifying. You updated us on the auction transition process. You mentioned the 1. 75 billion we provided is insufficient to cover the total cost of repack lightly. You didnt mention whether the 30month deadline will be sufficient to complete the process. Is it too early to tell whether it will be possible to move it all within 39 months . It is a little too early to tell. Thus far we havent yet commenced full analysis of whether the phases will be sufficient. I can commit to this committee that we will keep you apprised promptly of any developments on that front if we get the sense that that 39 months will not be able to be met. Thank you. Madam chair, ill give you 29 seconds back. Sounds great. Ms. Clarke, five minutes. Thank you, madam chair. I thank our Ranking Member<\/a>. I also thank our commissioners. Its great to have you hear before us to answer questions today. My first question is actually to you, mr. Chairman. Its good to see you. You too. Since the close of the fccs broadcast incentive auction in april, youve begun granting license applications, i believe 25 have been granted, including two applications to incumbent nationwide wireless carriers and the countrys largest cable and direct broadcast satellite providers. The 24 remaining applications that have not been placed on Public Notice<\/a>, 13 seek bidding credits as Small Businesses<\/a> and ten seek bidding credits as Rural Service<\/a> providers. And youve announced in july that youre prepared to pay the winning bidders in the reverse auction. Now that these payments are ready to go out and now that the fcc has largely processed the applications for winning birds it has previously put on notice, i believe the fcc should now move to be ready to process remaining license applications, many of which are for Small Businesses<\/a>. Can you tell me what the timeline is for putting the remaining license applications on Public Notice<\/a> . And how are you prioritizing these applications to ensure that theres timely deployment of these valuable spectrum to consumers . I appreciate your concern, congresswoman, because obviously that is a limiting step for those winning bidders to deploy that spectrum to benefit consumers. Were moving as quickly as we can, we obviously want to process those applications quickly. There are particular procedures that the fcc is required to follow in addition to the standard procedures we have to follow for winning birds to ensure those designated entities are in fact entitled to bidding credits under our rules and the applicable law. Were working through those procedures to make sure they get the spectrum theyve bid for. Well be happy to keep you apprised. Im just concerned because the little guys always get short shrift and the rurals always get short shrift. It would be great to flip the is script this time and make them a priority, because the big guys, you know, theyve got the wherewithal to do what needs to be done. Its the little guys were trying to elevate. Exactly, and youve got my commitment on that front, congresswoman. Awesome, awesome. This question is for commissioner oreilly. The fcc is currently considering whether to approve a new broadband standard, the atsc 3. 0. Im interested in the new services that this standard could bring to consumers, including access to more indepth news on topic, interactive Educational Programs<\/a> and a robust Emergency Alert<\/a> system. What is the time frame for the fcc action on this new standard, and also, its deployment by broadcasters . So i think the chairman may be better to answer timelines on that point. I hope to be expeditious on this. I would like to do it this year if possible. This year . If the chairman can answer the timeline. Okay. Well, done, commissioner oreilly. So we do hope to be able to conclude to improve the new standard if possible by the end of the year. But obviously we want to follow the facts where they take us. And so were studying the record actively. Here too we hope to work collaboratively to figure out if we can approve that standard. Were moving down that track. Having said that, i was just wondering whether you would all make a commitment to make sure that no consumer will lose service, no consumer will have to spend any money to keep viewing broadcast channels. Yes, congresswoman. As i recall the mprm, its been a few months now, i specifically remember that most consumers have atsc 1. 0 enabled Television Sets<\/a> and devices in their homes. So we obviously dont want to make a flash cut to atsc 3. 0 and leave those viewers in the lurch. Good. Part of the reason we structured it is you could experiment with 3. 0 as long as the 1. 0 signal is out there and remains to be viewed. Wonderful. Recently two licensees, fiber tower and Straight Path<\/a>, sought fcc authority to sell spectrum after doing little or nothing with those licenses for many years. If auction consistent with fcc rules, this spectrum would fetch billions of dollars for the u. S. Treasury. Why should the fcc reward fiber tower and Straight Path<\/a> with private riches for not deploying service to the public . And why should fiber tower and Straight Path<\/a> collect billions of dollars in payments instead of having to give that money to the u. S. Treasury for the benefit of all americans . Can you guys give me a sense of, you know, whats the deal here . Good question. Good question, congresswoman. There are some tricky legal issues were trying to sort out and policy issues as well. Tricky. But obviously, as ive said in response to i believe congressman olson, this is a public resource and we want to make sure it is allocated in a way that benefits the American Public<\/a>. Awesome. Anyone else have any thoughts . Okay. Very well. I yield back. Thank you very much, madam chair. The gentlelady yields back. Ms. Walters, five minutes. Thank you, chairman blackburn and to our witnesses for being here today. The siting of Wireless Infrastructure<\/a> is a key component of expanding broadband throughout our nation while creating jobs. In fact investment in 5g deployment has the potential to create over 2300 jobs in my district. However, Accenture Deloitte<\/a> and ctia recently found that barriers remain to the deployment of broadband infrastructure. These reports have identified a number of impediments including a lengthy and indefinite permitting process or an unwillingness to grant reasonable access to polls or rightofways. In my home state of california, several cities require wireless providers to show gaps in service just to access the rightofway. While one city is asking for excessive annual fees to access the rightofways. Chairman pai, do these issues constitute okay stbstacles to broadband deployment . Thank you, congresswoman. In many cases they just. If youre looking to build a Wireless Network<\/a>, especially if youre a smaller competitor, you need to deploy that spectrum, and it can be an obstacle to you getting into the marketplace. What can the commission do to address these issues . Part of it involves the authority granted to us by sections 233, 332, and to the extent possible, 6409 of the spectrum act. Were looking at different areas like that. Also ive set up, as i mention earlier, an advisory committee, part of which is setting up model state and local codes for deployment that could address these issues. They will also tee up different barriers to entry like that to see if there are ways to work collaboratively. Ive supported legislation in congress that could address some of these issues in yeas where the commission currently did not have the authority. Thank you. Along the same lines, Wireless Infrastructure<\/a> sitings is necessary to expand broadband deployment. Im hoping congress and the fcc can Work Together<\/a> to streamline siting procedures. Commissioner oreilly, does the commission have plans to review its procedures to ensure that siting applications do not face unnecessary obstacles . As the chairman mentioned, we have three proceedings were looking at on this front, one on wire line two on wireless, one on small cells particularly. Were working on these things aggressively. As he mentioned, he has a new task force, the commission is looking at these issues as well. I just spoke in front of them and participated in their activities. We are aggressively looking to solutions, anything that Congress Wants<\/a> to add or clarify in our authority will be welcome. But i think we have authority and we should move forward aggressively. Thanks. Specifically, how does the Commission Plan<\/a> to address siting issues like deemed granted and environmental assessments . Those things are a part of the items that i spoke of and are before us. Were taking comments and making some decisions hopefully later this year. Are there immediate actions the fcc can take to begin laying the groundwork for 5g . The two parts, as i mentioned, one is making sure spectrum is available, and the second is the piece you and i just spoke about. Were working aggressively on both fronts as hard as possible, i think. Commissioner clyburn . A couple of things you made me think about in asking that question, in a World Without<\/a> title ii, how would that 253 apply . Thats a concern of mine and should be a concern of yours. And another thing, we need to make sure that local communities do what we can to ensure that local communities have the tools we need to sift through these applications. If you go into Montgomery County<\/a> across the border, they have hundreds of applications and maybe just one or two people to sift through them. So not everyone is trying to stand in the way. And so we need to make sure as a collective infrastructure family that we make sure that everyone, you know, has the oxygen they need to move forward. Okay. Thank you. And thank you again for being here. I yield back the balance of my time. Mr. Engel, youre recognized for five minutes. Thank you, madam chairman. And welcome to everyone here today. You know, just as a consumer, when im running around, i notice my phone rings much more now than ever before in terms of all these annoying robocalls and, you know, they even have the nerve to be stern with you, we called you last week and you didnt respond, so the average person would think, gee, i did something wrong and maybe go along with it. When i was first in congress a while ago, we passed a bill which developed no call yes, a no call zone when people werent allowed to call. Why cant we exchange that . Are there technical obstacles to developing new standards for call certification . Why cant we have a do not call list like we once had years ago for regular telephones . Anyone who cares to answer. I would be happy to start, congressman. A part of the problem is we have a lot of unscrupulous actors, some of whom are beyond our borders, who find it profitable, frankly, to prey on consumers with these rob oocalls despite e fact that theyre not do not call list. This is a major issue for the United States<\/a>. We need their cooperation in terms of cracking down on some of those call centers that are disobeying our do not call rules. We want to use the authorities we have. Thats part of the reason we set up a do not originate database functionality, if a consumer does not want his or her number used for any purposes other than his or her own, they can tell a carrier do not place a call if it does not come from me, thats one complement to the do not call list in time to come. I agree, rules Going Forward<\/a> wont apply to people who dont apply by them. Thats why we created this task force. We know we cant do it alone at the fcc, we dont have the tools. Were attempting to enable the providers to have more teeth, so to speak, to make sure that they can be a part of fixing this problem. It will be ongoing. And i wish i would tell you next year we would have a different conversation. We might not. But hopefully well be able to move forward. Thank you. Because just as a consumer, when im running from meeting to meeting, all of a sudden i answer something and its so annoying, and its increasing every single day. Thank you. Commissioner clyburn, let me ask you this. Privacy, Data Security<\/a>. According to the identifity the resource center, data thefts expose Social Security<\/a> numbers and login names and passwords. Congress gave the fcc a clear role and respondesibility in overseeing our nations commercial networks but theres a growing consensus that were falling behind. So our privacy protections seem to be frozen. Provisions were gutted requiring isps to notify consumers of data breaches. And we might never know the full scope of these breaches because many are undiscovered and underreported. Let me start with commissioner clyburn. Do you think the fcc should issue rules on this issue . Do i think we should issue rules . Im sorry. Yes. On the issue of im not sure we can. I dont know what the impact of the congressional review is. Im trying to figure out what our next steps are, particularly when it comes to voice, i think its clear, but when it comes to broadband, were increasingly moving to ip. I dont know what direction were headed. What role should the ftc play . I think a complementary role. When it comes they dont have any type of authority, as my interpretation is, as it stands now, when it comes to common carriers. So as it stands right now, the ftc, i dont see what role they can play in terms of broadband protections. If we leave regulations up to the states, what happens . I think there are some states that are looking at this that were responsive after the cra. But we would have a patchwork of regulation. I dont think that works well for businesses who have a nationwide footprint. What are the consequences of leaving Data Security<\/a> up to the isps . I think uncertainty. I think, again, that hodgepodge. I dont think the American Public<\/a> would be very comforted to know that depending on who they call or who their provider is and where they go online, they might have Different Levels<\/a> of expectations or protections. Thank you. Thank you, madam chair. The gentleman yields back. Mr. Johnson, youre recognized. Thank you, madam chair. And chairman pai, commissioner clyburn, and commissioner oreilly, thank you all three for being here today to talk about such an important issue. Chairman pai, a lot of questions have already been asked. But im going to give you an opportunity here to talk more in a broad context. What has the fcc done during your time as commissioner, in the commission to facilitate the deployment of Broadband Networks<\/a> . Boy, a lot. Weve been pretty busy on this front. Number one, in february we kicked off the process for the connect America Fund Phase<\/a> ii as well as Mobility Fund<\/a> phase ii. Next week well be voting on the next steps to make sure those auctions happen in a timely and effective way. Number two, weve taken a very aggressive stand in terms of modernizing our rules to recognize that broadband deployment is our top priority. We kicked off, for instance, a Wireless Infrastructure<\/a> item, voted on unanimously, i would add, that would add deployment of nuts and bolts of these Wireless Network<\/a>s in an easy and timely way. We teed up a number of ideas for promoting the deployment of 5 and her the other guts of a network that go into the ground and on poles to make it easier for broadband providers to deploy. Additionally, using the discretion granted the chairman, i set up early on a Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee<\/a> to help us create model codes for states and localities and other issues, tee up other issues for the commissions consideration, for us to think broadly about ways to promote broadband deployment. As im working cooperatively with my counterparts at other agencies, just this morning, at the meeting of the rural prosperity working group, i had a chance to meet with the secretary of agriculture, secretary chao, secretary price and others to make sure we are delivering Rural Broadband<\/a> connectivity. Because broadband is simply a good in and of itself. It delivers highquauld health care, precision in agriculture, job creation, so many verticals that are lacking currently in places like in your district as commissioner clyburn has seen. Weve been active, but theres a lot more to do. Closing the Digital Divide<\/a> is our number one priority and i hope to work with congress to make that divide a thing of the past after were done. I appreciate it. I applaud the work that you and the commission are doing now. And im happy to be leading in this effort. Commissioner clyburn, thank you for your testimony on affordable, reliable broadband, specifically as it relates to rural areas, especially those like ohio and my district. I share your goal in that regard. My only regret is that i wish i had known that you were coming to my district, with enough advance notice that we could have participated with you, and your summits and your meetings there. I was told to call your office. Im sorry if you did not no, i didnt know anything about it until i read about it in the newspaper afterwards. Okay. But if you want to come back again, i would certainly encourage that. Because people in my district know what a struggle it is in our areas without broadband connectivity. Is there an obstacle you can identify for us that prevents a tech company from deploying their own fiber network, so that this becomes less of an issue in Rural America<\/a>n places . In making a business case, very beautiful country and beautiful people, but, you know, its not necessarily in the most densely populated region. There are some economic challenges. So investment is not going to organically flow without a universal service construct. And, you know, you know what i know. Theres some basic things that some of your constituents were talking about, in terms of land line service. When it rains, it literally pours and they dont have connectivity. Weve got a job to do. Were talking about 5g. Theyre talking about Legacy Service<\/a> that there are issues with. So i look forward to continuing to talk return. Sure. Try to work on that cell coverage on 69 and 70, you know, the highways. But looking forward to return. Weve got some very fundamental problems that we need to address. I can actually personally relate to some of what you just said. Because living right there in marietta, i live in town, and weve got broadband connectivity. But every time it storms, it goes down. Yes, sir. The internet goes out. And its a problem. I can only imagine the frustration that the unserved areas of my district face. So i look forward to working with you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all three very much. Madam chair, i yield back. The gentleman yields back. Mr. Door . Madam chair, i would request unanimous consent to enter into the record with a document of quotes from a number of isp executives claiming that the open Internet Order<\/a> will not affect broadband investment, as well as a report by the Public Interest<\/a> group free press on broadband investment and online Video Markets<\/a> that shows investment is thriving under the current rules. Without objection, so ordered. And mike and i have been sitting up here discussing privacy, and Data Security<\/a>, and solving all of those problems. Arent you all thrilled. I am glad, we just are so appreciative of you all taking your time. There are no other members in the queue to ask questions of the panel. So pursuant to Committee Rules<\/a>, the members have ten Business Days<\/a> in which to submit questions for the record. And we do know that there are additional questions that are going to be submitted to you all as we did in the hearing planned for the first quarter. Then we will ask for your responses within ten days of receipt of those questions. So there being no further business, committee adjourned. In congress this week, the house takes up nearly 800 billion in defense related spending for the next fiscal year. The Senate Continues<\/a> work on repealing parts of the Affordable Care<\/a> act. The senate on cspan2. Watch anytime on cspan. Org and listen with the free cspan radio app. Just this Department Officials<\/a> in the Trump Administration<\/a> testify at a Senate Judiciary<\/a> Committee Hearing<\/a> on Foreign Agent<\/a> registration requirements. Live coverage wednesday starts at 10 00 a. M. Eastern here on cspan3. In the afternoon, a house panel looks at the u. S. Qatar relationship in light of a recent blockade by gulf states. Live coverage starts at 2 00 p. M. Eastern, also on cspan3. Watch both hearings online at cspan. Org or listen with the cspan radio app. Cspans washington journal live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. And coming up wednesday morning, California Democratic<\/a> congressman raul ruiz will discuss republican efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care<\/a> act. Also, the Wilson Centers<\/a> Latin American Program<\/a> fellow cabrera will join us to talk about human smuggling and trafficking, after ten suspected migrants died in an overheated tractortrailer in san antonio last weekend. Also, Oklahoma Republican<\/a> congressman Steve Russell<\/a> will join us to talk about key issues facing congress. Including the future of health care in federal spending, as well as his opposition to air Traffic Control<\/a> privatization. Be sure to watch cspans washington journal live 7 00 eastern wednesday morning. Join the discussion. Dr. Curt newman on his book, healing children, from the frontiers of pediatric medicine. The conversations i hear are about cutting things like medicaid, and, you know, cutting the nih, and doing all these things, when were on the cusp of such terrific discoveries. And when you think about half of the people that are on medicaid, half of the beneficiaries are children. So whos going to get hurt. Why would we want to do that. Were not doing that to the elderly on medicare. In fact, we ought to double down and really put more into our children. Watch the entire Program Saturday<\/a> at 7 00 p. M. Eastern. Also on book tv on cspan2, sunday at 7 00 p. M. Eastern, David Goodhart<\/a> on the road to somewhere, the populist revolt and future of politics. You see this in the contempt that people in my email chains after brexit. You had left wingers saying why did we give the people the vote, without some kind of iq test. Go to book tv. Org for more on this weeks schedule. Officials from the irs and treasury Inspector Generals Office<\/a> testified on where improvements can be made to better protect taxpayers information. They took questions from members of the house ways means subcommittee on oversight. This hearing is an hour. The subcommittee will come to order. The irs record retention policy, improving compliance. Last year the irs processed 244 million tax returns. Among them are individuals, Small Businesses<\/a> like my own, who must retain their tax records in case the irs ever wants to review them. The irs must also identify retained records to define lengths of time in accordance","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia600606.us.archive.org\/33\/items\/CSPAN3_20170726_001400_FCC_Commissioners_Testify_at_Oversight_Hearing\/CSPAN3_20170726_001400_FCC_Commissioners_Testify_at_Oversight_Hearing.thumbs\/CSPAN3_20170726_001400_FCC_Commissioners_Testify_at_Oversight_Hearing_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240628T12:35:10+00:00"}