FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski defended the FCC's openness
and transparency Thursday against charges by Sen. Charles Grassley that the FCC
was one of the worst agencies at complying with document requests.
That came at the press conference following the FCC's first
meeting with its two new commissioners, whose appointments Grassley had blocked
for months claiming the FCC was stonewalling his document requests.
In a floor statement this week, Grassley said: "In over
thirty years of conducting oversight I can say that when it comes to providing
documents to Congress, the FCC is one of the worst federal agencies I have ever
seen."
"We have shown in many different ways our commitment to
transparency," the chairman said. He pointed out that Rep. Darrell Issa
(R-Calif.) had recently issued a report card grading a number of federal
agencies on their compliance with FOIA and that the FCC had gotten an A.
"We will continue to cooperate and to be transparent as we have
been."
The FCC had declined to provide documents relating to its
LightSquared waiver directly to Grassley because he was not the chair of one of
its oversight committees, but did provide LightSquared documents in response to
FOIA requests and in response to a request by House Energy & Commerce
Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.)
