Broadband Deployment Act Likely for 2016 Passage, Odds Longer for No Rate Regulation Act, Pompeo Says
The Small Business Broadband Deployment Act (HR-4596) has strong chances of passing the House this year, said Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., Wednesday at an American Cable Association summit. "It looks like it's going to be broadly bipartisan, like it's going to happen," said the member of the House Communications Subcommittee. "I'm confident the Senate will see that and pick it up as well." The House Commerce Committee approved a modified version of the bill last month (see 1602250015). Its passage "would be a huge reprieve for our members," ACA President Matt Polka said.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
The terrain is rockier for the No Rate Regulation of Broadband Internet Access Act (HR-2666), Pompeo said. "It's turned out to be more partisan than I would have anticipated." Lack of Democratic support may indicate that there is some interest at the FCC for rate regulation, Pompeo said: "[Chairman Tom Wheeler] may not be telling us what all he has in his pocket."
Pompeo also said the subcommittee may try a smaller package of agency process reforms, eschewing some provisions that faced particular objections. "We've struggled to get most of the serious transparency reforms pushed through the FCC," he said. "These are good government reforms, truly not conservative or liberal." He also said, with the Obama administration moving on next year, "oversight is aimed at keeping [the FCC] in their lane." The agency "has tried to branch out into privacy areas and others; we're going to slow them down," especially since the next presidential administration may have a different approach, Pompeo said.
Pompeo said Congress likely will have to step in on the FBI/Apple clash over iPhone security, though he didn't give specifics. "It cannot be the case we can allow a company to go to market with the philosophy, 'Buy my phone, do illegal stuff, no one will know.'" Any congressional action seemingly won't be soon. "We will be slow in Congress to act," Pompeo said. "That probably makes sense. We shouldn't let [whatever rules get crafted] get in the way of innovation."
House Communications Subcommittee member Mike Doyle, D-Pa., said 2016 almost surely won't see any major communications reform bill, but early 2017 is far more likely. "This year isn't the right time" given the presidential election and a shortened congressional session, Doyle said. But the beginning of a new Congress is the best time to get such things done, he said. Doyle also said he will keep pushing Wheeler on updating the definition of good-faith negotiations between cable operators and broadcasters. House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., was scheduled to address the ACA event but canceled.