Who's Who on House Commerce Committee?

WHO'S WHO ON HOUSE COMMERCE COMMITTEE?
[SOURCE: Technology Daily 1/22, AUTHOR: David Hatch]
John Dingell, the new chairman of the House Commerce Committee, is a recognizable face in Washington and on the panel. A congressman since 1955, he ran Commerce from 1981 until the Democrats lost control of the House in 1995. For years, Rep Dingell was viewed as closely aligned with the Bell telephone companies, but as they consolidated and moved beyond their core local phone businesses, his opinions also evolved. Last year, during the protracted battle over Republican-backed telecommunications legislation, Rep Dingell came out swinging against AT&T, BellSouth (now part of AT&T) and Verizon Communications, which sought to eliminate local franchise restrictions and prevent regulation of their growing high-speed Internet businesses. "This bill threatens real harm to consumers, to our communities and to citizens of the Internet," Rep Dingell said during committee action on the measure. "Many people will be worse off after this bill than they are today. I urge a no vote." Yet in 2001, Rep Dingell teamed with then-committee Chairman W.J. (Billy) Tauzin (R-LA) on a bill to let the Bells offer nationwide Internet access. The FCC later granted much of the relief they sought. A longtime telecom powerbroker, Rep Dingell also was central to passage of the watershed 1996 Telecommunications Act. Following the mid-term election, he outlined an ambitious agenda for 2007. Among the priorities: fresh telecom legislation with a more deregulatory focus; further examination of television "indecency," a perennial concern; and renewed efforts to overhaul the multibillion-dollar universal service fund that subsidizes telecom services in rural and impoverished areas.
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-HKRC1169579775351.htm...

* For more see http://energycommerce.house.gov/