Telecom Would Be Priority Two Under Barton-led Commerce Committee
Expect an “activist” House Commerce Committee that does “aggressive oversight of the FCC,” if the GOP allows Ranking Member Joe Barton, R-Texas, to become chairman, he said Friday on C-SPAN’s The Communicators. The committee would also be bipartisan and transparent, he said. Due to GOP committee term limit rules, Barton must get a waiver from the House Steering Committee to become chairman next year. Barton has been very public about his desire to become chairman (CD Nov 5 p1).
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Barton said he didn’t want to speculate on what position he could take within the Commerce Committee if he’s not named chairman. “I am fully engaged in being successful in convincing the Republican conference and the leadership to give me the privilege to be the full committee chairman,” he said. “I'm very confident that I will be successful in that effort.” Barton said he is “very good friends” with Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., the other leading candidate for chairman, but he said there are differences on some issues between them. “I am an obviously consistent conservative across the board,” he said. “Fred tends to be somewhat more moderate.” Barton said he also has more experience. “I've also been chairman for one term so I think I'd be able to hit the ground running,” he said. “The American people have given us a two-year lease to be in the majority in the Congress and I think we should put our best team on the field for the next two years."
While repealing the healthcare law would be his top priority, energy and telecom would be tied for second, Barton said. It’s “imperative that we maintain the freedom of the Internet,” but he doesn’t agree with FCC reclassification, Barton said. “We can certainly move legislation making it crystal clear that they don’t have that authority.” Barton hopes the agency will read the election as a sign they should not reclassify broadband under Title II of the Communications Act. If the commission goes ahead, Barton is willing to move legislation to stop them, he said.
Presumptive Speaker John Boehner of Ohio and other House Republicans oppose net neutrality rules, Barton said. “Republicans have insisted since the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that the Internet be open and free and accessible … to any and all comers,” he said. “We don’t allow any taxation of the Internet, we have an open access policy, Internet use has exploded, as has cellphone use.” Net neutrality is a “misnomer” Barton said: “What it means in practice, if the FCC were to implement it, is that the federal government could regulate the Internet."
On the Universal Service Fund, Barton said a revamp is “long overdue,” and he’s open to legislation if the committee can find bipartisan agreement. A bill this year by outgoing Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., is a “good first step,” he said. Another Barton priority is privacy. He was surprised the current 111th Congress didn’t move a bill, he said. “That is certainly something we can work [on] with the Democrats.” With bipartisan support, Barton is “very willing to legislate in that area,” he said.
The future of the 700 MHz D-block, and whether it should be reallocated to public safety, is a “very vexing issue, a very technical issue,” Barton said. While he favors an auction of the block, Congress needs to address public safety’s needs “in a different way,” he said. “This is obviously something that has been festering for a while and it is something that we would like to see successfully solved in the next two years if possible."
Barton interprets the GOP term limit rule to mean he can serve three terms as chairman, not three terms as chairman or ranking member. Barton has only served one year as chairman, so he believes he can serve two more terms under that title. Barton plans to ask the party “to clarify the rule,” and hopes to have it clarified during the transition, he said. Barton said Boehner told him to take up the proposed rule change with the GOP Majority Transition Committee, headed by Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore. Walden told reporters Thursday that he wanted to stay out of the discussion.
While Barton and Boehner have clashed on a few occasions, including over Barton’s comments on the BP oil spill, Barton described their relationship as “positive and very cordial.” Boehner controls the GOP Steering Committee. Barton congratulated Boehner in person after the Republican leader’s victory speech Tuesday night.
Barton said he was saddened that Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., had lost his race for reelection, but only on a personal level. “I'm a Republican and I'm always happy to get more Republicans and to have a majority,” Barton said. “As a person, there’s not a better person in Congress than Rick Boucher, as somebody knowledgeable on these issues of telecommunications but also energy policy and many of the legal aspects … Congressman Boucher is going to be really, really missed.”
Republicans publicly competing with Barton for the Commerce Committee chair, in order of seniority, include Upton and Reps. Cliff Stearns of Florida and John Shimkus of Illinois. Many in the telecom industry view Upton as the favorite.