Pallone Floor Remarks in Support of FCC Reauthorization

Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) gave the following speech on the House Floor today during consideration of H.R. 4986, the RAY BAUM's Act, which reauthorized the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for the first time in 28 years:

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in support of H.R. 4986, the RAY BAUM's Act.

This bill is the product of extensive bipartisan collaboration. After exhaustive negotiations, we were able to reach a deal that includes bills introduced by Democrats and Republicans in both the House and the Senate. That does not happen often and I would like to thank my colleagues for working with me so closely.

This bill is a real tribute to its namesake—Ray Baum. Ray had a passion for telecommunications policy and a special place in his heart for broadcasting.

Ray was also an eternal optimist. Ray never faltered in his belief that we could find a way to work together to find a solution. He was right. We were able to incorporate proposals from members on both sides of the aisle—just the way Ray would have liked it, and we were able to produce this legislation that will reauthorize the FCC for the first time in 28 years.

I would like to briefly mention some aspects of this bill that I am most proud of. First, we were able to include the SANDy Act, which is named to honor those affected by Superstorm Sandy, a storm that ripped through the northeast—including my district—over five years ago.

During that superstorm we saw firsthand how important communications were for survival. From television and radio broadcasters to wireless providers and cable networks, each played its own role in making sure people knew how to find help, look for loved ones, and stay out of harm's way.

I used the lessons we learned from Sandy in writing this legislation. When this bill is signed into law, our networks will be stronger, more resilient, and more capable to serve in an emergency.

This FCC reauthorization bill also includes the Viewer Protection Act.

I introduced the Viewer Protection Act to make sure no viewer loses signal as a result of the FCC's incentive auction. Access to local information has become even more important as the number of natural disasters has increased over the past few years.

Not only does this bill help ensure consumer's broadcast stations don't go dark, as part of this bipartisan, bicameral deal, we have agreed to provide $50 million in funding to help educate consumers about the transition. This funding is critical to ensure that people have access to information about how to get their televisions to work.

My colleagues will discuss other important aspects of this deal. But before they do, I would like to point out two important provisions that we included as part of the reauthorization.

First, we included a provision that makes the FCC's Inspector General independent of the Commission's Chairman. The IG is currently conducting a number of critical investigations, including one into whether the Chairman of the agency has been improperly favoring Sinclair Broadcasting. But under current law these investigations are being conducted under a cloud—the very Chairman who is under investigation can obstruct the review by firing the Inspector General or his or her staff at any time.

By passing this bill, we are ensuring these important investigations can conclude without interference from the Chairman's Office.

Finally, I do not normally support unnecessarily cutting the budget of our agencies. But in this case, I would like to thank my colleagues for agreeing to limit this cut to the length of this administration.

The current leadership of the FCC has proven that it cannot be trusted to serve the public interest. Most notably, the agency has ignored its statutory duty and the call of the American people by destroying our net neutrality protections. Net neutrality safeguards our American values by empowering small businesses, creating new jobs, and ensuring free speech online.

By limiting the resources that we provide for the next three years, this reauthorization will limit this Commission's power to do more harm in my opinion.

For those reasons, and many more, I urge my colleagues to support the bipartisan and bicameral agreement embodied by the RAY BAUM Act.

I would also like to thank the Democratic Committee staff -- David Goldman, Jerry Leverich, and Dan Miller – for all of their hard work in getting this bill to the floor today.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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