The House Communications Subcommittee has rescheduled its
FCC process reform hearing, which had initially been scheduled for May 3, to
Friday morning, May 13.
Walden told an American Cable Association conference last
month he was planning to hold the hearing and that he thinks that FCC reform
can be achieved in a "positive and constructive way." He likened it to
Republicans' rewriting of the House rules--Walden was chairman of the GOP
transition team--to make Congress more "open, transparent and
accountable" by requiring legislation to be online three days before a
vote and reducing the size of bills. "I think we can do that at the
FCC," he said.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has made openness and transparency watchwords
bordering on buzzwords for the commission already, but Walden's take was:
"We can create an FCC where you make the decision after discovering there
is actually a problem rather than announce the rules, then build a case, then
lose it in court." He did not say he was talking about the network-neutrality rules he opposes, but that has been his and other Republicans' knock
on them.
"I think there is a better way to operate, and we intend to move down that
path," he told the ACA.
