Thune Promises Heller 2016 'Activity' on FCC Process Overhaul

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., "has told me he supports the process reform,” said Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., the lead Senate sponsor of the FCC Process Reform Act (S-421), in an interview Wednesday. “He put in a couple other amendments that I was pushing for. So pulling the process reform obviously was a disappointment. But Thune continues to support it and has agreed to have some activity in the near future, whatever that means. We’ll get something done in the future.”

The Senate Commerce Committee “ideally” plans to mark up the two-year FCC reauthorization bill March 16, as expected (see 1603070050), Thune confirmed in an interview Wednesday. He suggested inclusion of the bill -- which currently lacks Democratic support -- wasn't certain. A committee aide later told us the FCC Reauthorization Act will be on the Wednesday markup agenda. That markup will also include an 18-month Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization, Thune said. “This will have all the policy of a long-term bill, it’s just a shorter term,” Thune said of the FAA reauthorization, which may also involve provisions in tech and telecom. His news release unveiling that FAA bill text specified the Wednesday markup will start at 10 a.m. The 18-month reauthorization time was "something that the Democrats sort of insisted on," he said. Thune formally introduced his FCC Reauthorization Act Monday, much narrower than the draft last year that included FCC process overhaul provisions.

FCC process overhaul may still be in the cards for 2016, Thune told us. “We wanted to get a base [reauthorization] bill that we thought could pass, that did some basic things like reauthorize and do some transparency things and then we’ll see at the markup,” he said. “I assume there will be a number of amendments offered. So some of those other issues could get debated then. We’ll see.” He also didn’t rule out marking up Heller’s FCC Process Reform Act later, not wrapped into FCC reauthorization. “If we can build some bipartisan support for it, we’d certainly be open to that,” Thune said. “But right now, we’re doing what we think can get done -- the art of the doable.”

Heller offered and withdrew his FCC process bill as an amendment to the bipartisan spectrum bill Mobile Now during a Commerce Committee markup last week. “Maybe, maybe,” Heller told us of potentially offering the bill as an amendment to the FCC Reauthorization Act. “I’m not guaranteeing it, but we’ll obviously take a look at it. I don’t want to upset the chairman. I’m with Thune on it. And if our staffs have an agreement, I’ll abide by the agreement.”

“It’s a very modest bill that we hope will be noncontroversial and bipartisan,” said Senate Commerce Committee GOP telecom policy director David Quinalty, who works for Thune, on a panel of Capitol Hill staffers Wednesday at the Telecommunications Industry Association summit. FCC process provisions have "proven to be more controversial in the Senate, unfortunately,” Quinalty said.

“Trying to do what no one has done in 25 years in 10 days, that’s hard,” countered Democratic senior communications counsel John Branscome, who works for Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla. The FCC hasn’t been reauthorized since 1990, and Thune first announced wanting to reauthorize the agency in January 2015 and was ready with an earlier draft by June.

Nelson last year refrained from negotiating on FCC reauthorization by fall. He said he wanted to work out net neutrality legislation first. But Tuesday Nelson told us he and committee staffers were “working” on FCC reauthorization and didn’t seem necessarily hostile to proceeding on FCC reauthorization, given how close they were on a net neutrality deal (see 1603080046). Branscome cited Nelson’s recent comments and said he didn’t want to get ahead of his boss. But “Senator Nelson has not taken a position,” Branscome said. “This is tough. FCC reauthorization is a difficult thing.” Branscome said Nelson staffers will be looking at how any agency reauthorization helps the FCC’s mission, consumers and “how it furthers the public interest.” Quinalty downplayed any controversy in the legislation, referring to its inclusion of “zombie riders” that have accompanied appropriations bills for years and a GAO report on regulatory fee collection. Thune told us last week he believed they could secure bipartisan backing.

Branscome also criticized what he saw as tension in the FCC process overhaul provisions. He said the Senate approved unanimously Heller’s other bill, the FCC Consolidated Reporting Act, and warned against some proposals “that would only serve to hamstring the FCC.” Process overhaul “is actually a priority” for FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, who has internally reviewed processes, Branscome said.

House Republicans are hopeful for Senate action, said Kelsey Guyselman, Republican counsel for the House Commerce Committee. “We recognize a lot of the concerns” Branscome expressed regarding FCC process overhaul, she said. “We’ll continue to push for that.” Senior House Commerce Republicans haven't pursued FCC reauthorization in recent months but back the idea, she said.

Thune touted Mobile Now and his FCC Reauthorization Act on the Senate floor Wednesday. He hopes to move both in the months ahead, he said: “As indicated by the FCC commissioners themselves at our oversight hearing last week, a consistent legislative reauthorization process will produce a more responsible and a more productive relationship between Congress and the commission.”