Rep Shimkus Says He’d Try Communications Act Update if he Wins Commerce Committee Chairmanship

Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) said he would try to tackle a Communications Act update if he runs for and wins the chairmanship of the House Commerce Committee after current Chairman Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) steps down at the end of this Congress.

"It's a great, exciting opportunity to try to bring competitive market forces to solving our nation's problems," he said while taping an episode of C-SPAN's "Communicators" program. "In the telecommunications world, what's fun there is it just moves so fast that we can't regulate it -- hence all the new gadgets and equipment. I would like to see the FCC work with us to try to deal with the Communications Act. You know, the bureau system there no longer meets the modern technological age, and if they joined us in trying to rewrite the Telecommunications Act that would be a blast."

Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chair Greg Walden (R-OR), considered another likely candidate for the full committee gavel, has said he wants to update the law. But he's suggested that any update will have to take place in stages, rather than all at once. He has also said that the Federal Communication Commission's network neutrality rules make achieving any compromise much more difficult.