Thune Urges FCC to Stop Work on Controversial Items
Suggests commission instead focus on areas of bipartisan agreement
November 15, 2016
WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, in a letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler, urged the agency to stop work on controversial new orders that could create confusion if reversed and would be subject to review next year.
“I strongly urge the FCC to avoid directing its attention and resources in the coming months to complex, partisan, or otherwise controversial items that the new Congress and new Administration will have an interest in reviewing,” wrote Thune who suggested that the commission instead focus on items that can achieve bipartisan support.
In December 2008, as the FCC was transitioning from a Republican majority under the Bush Administration to a Democrat majority under the Obama Administration, congressional Democrats Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.) sent a similar request asking the agency to stop work on “complex and controversial items.” The FCC complied with the request.
Click here for a copy of Thune’s letter to Wheeler.
“I strongly urge the FCC to avoid directing its attention and resources in the coming months to complex, partisan, or otherwise controversial items that the new Congress and new Administration will have an interest in reviewing,” wrote Thune who suggested that the commission instead focus on items that can achieve bipartisan support.
In December 2008, as the FCC was transitioning from a Republican majority under the Bush Administration to a Democrat majority under the Obama Administration, congressional Democrats Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.) sent a similar request asking the agency to stop work on “complex and controversial items.” The FCC complied with the request.
Click here for a copy of Thune’s letter to Wheeler.
