Cristiano Lima

Democrats on the House Commerce Committee are pushing back on a report by the Federal Communications Commission Inspector General finding no evidence of a "concealment or cover-up" by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai in communications with the White House regarding the failed Sinclair-Tribune merger.

Bipartisan interest is growing on Capitol Hill in using a year-end funding bill to force the Federal Communications Commission to take stock of the accuracy of its broadband data. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) is leading the effort. “I’ll be very frank: I’m going to try to stick something on the spending bill to make the FCC take another look at this,” said Sen. Wicker, the likely incoming chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee. He called the FCC’s mapping “fatally flawed.” And count Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) in, too. Sen.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has called an upcoming House Judiciary Committee hearing with Google CEO Sundar Pichai an important “step to restoring public trust in Google & all the companies that shape the Internet.” But the prospect of Republican lawmakers using the appearance to air allegations of bias against tech companies is giving Democratic leaders pause.

The new Democratic majority in the House is wasting no time in preparing its oversight efforts. “We’re getting ready to send a letter over to the [Federal Communications Commission] letting them know we intend to have a lot more oversight hearings and we want to start getting them on their schedule early,” said Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA). He predicted an FCC oversight hearing is “not going to be too much later” than January, if not then. He plans to meet with incoming House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) next week to game out the subcommittee agenda. Rep.

Federal Communications Commission General Counsel Tom Johnson is set to rebut net neutrality advocates on Feb. 1 before the DC Circuit Court of Appeals — and he previewed the agency’s arguments during a Free State Foundation event Nov 9.

The Federal Communications Commission's Brendan Carr is taking off the gloves in a fight with San Jose (CA) Mayor Sam Liccardo. “We must do better than Mayor Liccardo’s failed broadband policies,” Commissioner Carr wrote on Twitter  in response to a Liccardo op-ed. “Under his 3+ year leadership, San Jose approved zero small cells-ZERO-depriving residents of broadband options.

The furor over Rep. Steve King’s ties to white nationalist figures and groups has struck the telecom industry, where two heavyweights castigated Rep. King (R-Iowa) over some of his recent remarks. NCTA – The Internet & Television Association, denounced King’s remarks and could “no longer support his campaign.” And AT&T, which has contributed to King’s campaign, said it will not make further campaign contributions to the lawmaker in 2018. Rep.

Left-leaning groups are pouring money into online advertising on platforms like Facebook ahead of the midterms — and cash from Silicon Valley staffers is flowing to Democratic campaigns, according to recently released data. Donations to Democratic candidates from tech staffers, political action committees and outside groups is more than triple that of Republican candidates, $13.4 million to $3.7 million.

Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Makan Delrahim shot down the idea that new antitrust laws are necessary to address large tech companies, telling an audience of industry leaders that existing rules are ”perfectly equipped, at least for now.” Critics argue that tech companies have amassed significant market power through their vast networks of users and pools of data, but that their dominance is overlooked because their services are free or inexpensive. Delrahim contends, however, that price isn’t the only way government officials can measure how firms affect consumers.

House Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) and Telecommunications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) want more information from the Federal Communications Commission on a petition from USTelecom seeking regulatory relief from some unbundling requirements, as well as details on the agency’s recent Connect America Fund broadband subsidy auction.