[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 106 (Thursday, July 17, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1502]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      FCC DELAY IS UNCONSCIONABLE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. J. RANDY FORBES

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 16, 2003

  Mr. FORBES. Mr. Speaker, the Federal Communications Commission voted 
on February 20 to loosen some of the rules that inhibit the deployment 
of broadband services. This is good news for consumers everywhere, as 
more broadband means better Internet access, more choice, and better 
service. The February 20 vote starts the FCC down the road to true 
parity of broadband regulation.
  The problem is that it is almost four months later and the order that 
was voted on has not been released. We had heard that the FCC was 
waiting to vote on the media ownership issue before completing the 
February 20 rulemaking. The ownership vote took place last week June 2. 
What is the FCC waiting for?
  This delay is simply unconscionable. As
a comparison point, according to the Na-
tional Council of State Legislature's website
http://www.ncsl.org/programs/legman/about/sess2003.htm, half of the 
State legislatures in this country have completed their entire 
legislative year in less time than the FCC has taken to write an order 
that it has already voted on. In addition to my own State of Virginia, 
where I served in the State legislature, the State legislatures of 
Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, 
Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, 
Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, 
Utah, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming all complete their 
substantive legislative business in about 4 months or less. And yet, in 
that same amount of time, the FCC can't seem to agree on the words that 
give life to the order they voted on in February. I missed the part in 
civics class where it is harder to write the words of a regulatory 
order that has been agreed to than it is to conduct the entire annual 
business of a State.
  The FCC needs to end this embarrassing delay, and make sure its rules 
do not inhibit the deployment of broadband services to consumers 
throughout the country.

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