The House approved the FCC Consolidated Reporting Act...
The House approved the FCC Consolidated Reporting Act Monday in a 415-0 vote, with 227 Republicans and 188 Democrats voting yea. The legislation calls for one Communications Marketplace Report rather than eight separate reports and kills outdated references. The House…
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passed a similar bill in its last session, which failed in the Senate (CD March 27/12 p1). “The FCC’s reporting requirements are numerous, outdated, and unnecessarily burdensome,” FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai said in a statement Tuesday. “Replacing them with a single biennial Communications Marketplace Report will not only enable more efficient use of agency resources, it will also provide Congress and the public with a comprehensive and far more useful set of data that reflects the realities of today’s converged marketplace. This is straightforward, good-government legislation, and I hope that the U.S. Senate will act quickly to send this bill to the President for his signature.” The bill’s authors emphasized the flexibility the bill would offer Monday on the House floor. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., called the bill “a bipartisan bill that seeks to provide flexibility and relief to both our job creators as well as the Federal Communications Commission.” He said dollars would be better spent now. “These are the sorts of odds and ends that can eat a small business alive, and they can eat an agency alive as well,” said House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., on the House floor Monday, criticizing “these silly mandates” initially put in for good reason. “The House passed a similar bill in the last Congress,” said House Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., recommending her colleagues sign on to this bill, “something that all members can stand for."