April 2017

On March 28 2017, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai responded to several members of Congress regarding prison payphones and the FCC's decision not to defend at oral argument the intrastate calling rate caps. Chairman Pai wrote that he concluded there was a market failure in regards to the rates being charged for inmate calling services. But, Chairman Pai wrote, "the FCC's well-intentioned efforts have not been fully consistent with the law. In particular, the FCC has attempted to cap rates for intrastate inmate calls in apparent violation of the clear limits Congress placed on the agency's intrastate authority, and it failed to account for all record evidence."

Chairman Pai continues later, "Your letter asks about the FCC's decision not to defend at oral argument the intrastate calling rate caps. As indicated above, agency counsel did defend the Commission's authority to cap interstate rate caps, as well as to cap the ancillary charges that can drive up the cost of prison payphone calls. But given the circumstances in which the Commission found itself in this case- where oral argument was scheduled less than two weeks after I was designated to lead the Commission, the Commissioners who dissented from the order on review constituted a majority at the agency, and the court itself had stayed the effect of the intrastate calling rate caps- we determined that defending the portions of the Order supported by a majority of FCC commissioners was the most appropriate way to proceed."

Since Jan 20, Sean Spicer’s press briefings have become must-see TV for 4.3 million Americans, many of whom tune in desperately hoping for the thrill of a confrontational moment. All the liberals I know are now press critics, screaming into their laptops, suggesting cleverly phrased questions the reporters should be asking instead of the apparently toothless ones they’re asking instead. My boss thinks the press should take off the gloves and attack! My colleagues want to ban multipart questions! And my friends seem to know exactly how they’d break Spicer, if only they could get inside the room. Well, I got inside the room. I spent several weeks attending White House press briefings at the start of the new administration, camping out in the back, jammed against the wall, at one point with a Daily Mail reporter sitting on my feet. I wondered: Are we doing these all wrong?

INCOMPAS, which represents competitive carriers, wants the Federal Communications Commission to hold off on planned vote April 20 on FCC chair Ajit Pai's business data services deregulation until it releases the list of counties it presumes have competition and can deregulate incumbent carrier rates.