POWELL TELLS CONGRESS HE WON'T DELAY OWNERSHIP PROCEEDING
FCC Chmn. Powell emphasized to members of Congress Tues. that he didn’t plan to delay the June 2 completion of the FCC’s media ownership review. He used a 3-page letter to reply to nearly a month’s worth of letters from Capitol Hill -- some of which asked Powell to expedite the proceedings while others sought a delay.
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Explaining why there would be no delay, Powell said that Congress had passed legislation to hurry the FCC along in its media review. He said the agency needed to act quickly on a proceeding that already had produced a thorough record on the issue. “I would highlight that the public interest is presently being ill-served by a body of rules that have been severely wounded and rendered substantially ineffective by withering judicial fires,” the letter said: “Survival demands action.”
The certainty that the new media ownership rules will be challenged in court also provides motivation to finish the proceeding as soon as possible, Powell said. “There must be a fair opportunity between the completion of the present proceeding and the initiation of the next to resolve the inevitable challenges to our decision that will ensue,” he said, and any outcome would result in “substantial court challenges… The 2004 biennial review will be impossible to conduct responsibly if court cases remain pending, thereby denying the Commission and the parties an understanding of the permissible parameters of the choices we may make… Judicial sustainability is a key objective of this proceeding.”
Powell said he regretted that the FCC already had taken so long in finishing the review and it was aware that the deadline was bearing down. “If the Commission were to issue a further notice, as some propose,” he said, “the Commission would be hard-pressed to finish this 2002 biennial review before late this calendar year and would be forced to start the 2004 review almost immediately.” He said that in 2000, Congress had taken the “extraordinary step of demanding, in legislation, that the Commission complete within 6 months its delayed review.” That requirement was included in appropriations legislation. “Given this prior congressional rebuke, I feel especially obligated to complete this proceeding promptly,” he said.
Powell’s letter responded to at least 7 letters from Congress since March 19. Most recently, Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. McCain (R-Ariz.) asked Powell only that he not be unduly swayed by the barrage of letters he had received from the Hill. “It seems there is no shortage of members anxious to tell you how to best to perform the job of setting the procedural agenda of the Federal Communications Commission,” McCain said.
Powell received 3 letters last week from the Senate and House. One from a bipartisan mix of 15 senators asked for more openness in the proceeding. The letter was led by Sen. Snowe (R-Me.), who also wrote to the FCC March 19 asking for a delay in the proceeding. A March 28 letter from House and Senate members urging quick completion of the review. Sens. Brownback (R-Kan.) and Sununu (R-N.H.) have written their own letters to Powell urging he move forward as scheduled.
A spokeswoman for Snowe said Powell’s letter wasn’t a surprise. She said Snowe was hoping for an opportunity to ask Powell questions on ownership issues at a possible Senate Commerce Committee hearing. McCain is considering a hearing on ownership issues, Senate staffers have told us. Sen. Hollings (D-S.C.) has urged McCain to hold his hearing before the FCC releases its ruling June 2.