Rep Conyers, GOP Reps, Call for FCC Release of Set-Top Text

House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers (D-MI), has joined with House Republican leaders to call for the Federal Communications Commission to release the text of its set-top proposal before it votes on it. An FCC spokesperson said that the chairman does not release items until after the final vote. That request for the text came in a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler Sept 16 and followed similar calls by Senate Republicans in an FCC oversight hearing.

Before a vote such items are considered works in progress--they can still be adjusted and edited--and Chairman Wheeler clearly signaled this week that the set-top proposal was not done. Also calling for release of the proposal text were House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI), Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR), and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA). In the letter, they say that the proposal would benefit from a public vetting and, absent that, it is hard to know what the FCC is planning or its impact. Republican members of the commission, notably FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai, have also called for releasing the document. "Without further delay, we request that you release the text of the proposal," they said, which "raises issues of significance to both of our Committees." They said they also wanted stakeholders to have "time to meaningfully discuss the implications of the proposal."