Rubio, Shimkus Want Trump to Look to Congress on Telecom, Tech Policy
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s campaign is devoid of a telecom and tech policy agenda less than 40 days before the general election, despite a transition team meeting planned with tech and telecom policy stakeholders in Washington this week (see 1609290070). Republican members of Congress told us the Trump campaign should look to lawmakers’ ideas for guidance. Democratic lawmakers called Trump's policy void alarming.
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Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., believes the campaign should articulate telecom policy views. “I hope they do, but if they don’t, obviously at the end, Congress is the policy-setting body, so from our perspective, we’re going to continue to roll out policies and hopefully influence him or whoever the next president is, hopefully, to move in the direction we want it to go,” Rubio said in an interview. “Any time you can detail policy, it’s a positive. Perhaps they’re working on that.”
Rubio, a Commerce Committee member, was among the final three contenders for the GOP presidential nomination this year. Rubio outlined many positions on issues ranging from spectrum reallocation to wireless siting to net neutrality. He proactively brought up spectrum when speaking to The Des Moines Register editorial board in January (see 1601260025) and received backing from some Washington telecom-focused conservatives such as CTA President Gary Shapiro and former FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell.
“Trump’s very vague on a lot of issues,” acknowledged Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., who’s vying to lead Republicans on the Commerce Committee next Congress and frequently advocates overhaul of the 1996 Telecom Act. “On telecom, my guess is there’s no big rollout.” But Shimkus pulled out his brochure for "A Better Way," the policy agenda of House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., that features much about regulatory overhaul and telecom policy generally. “There’s no reason why when he’s president, you can’t fill in the gaps,” Shimkus said, suggesting Ryan’s ideas as the way. “I would preach to the Trump folks to take a part of this … and start weaving in some of those ideas that you can accept easily and say is part of our policy.”
Telecom lobbyists have grasped for any guidance on the Trump campaign for more than a year and few flocked to his support. Many favored other GOP candidates during the primary season, such as Rubio. Trump’s only known net neutrality mention came in a 2014 tweet, and his campaign website lacks references to broadband, spectrum and media policy or anything on the FCC. He proposed a moratorium on regulations generally at the start of his administration.
Engagement is sporadic. Trump weighed in on internet governance for the first time last month, backing the attempt of former primary rival Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to halt the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition. Last week, he accused Google of distorting search results in favor of Clinton, which the company denies. Cybersecurity was, as Shimkus said, a topic during Trump's Monday presidential debate with Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, who rolled out a detailed tech and telecom agenda starting in the primary season and formalized this June, with broadband stimulus goals for her administration's first hundred days (see 1609230040).
'Shallow,' Pallone Says
Democrats on Capitol Hill were less forgiving.
“I just don’t think that the Trump campaign has really focused on a lot of important issues like telecom,” said House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J. “You should be worried. Obviously, I don’t like Trump and I think he is very shallow in terms of his policy. There are certain things he has policies on, which I don’t like, but I think the fact that he doesn’t say anything on the telecom issue means he doesn’t think it’s a priority, so sure, you should be concerned.”
“It’s another indication of Donald Trump not being qualified to be president,” said Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., a member of the Commerce Committee. “I think that he doesn’t know policy. He doesn’t have policy views. We saw that at the debate the other night. He really just wasn’t specific about things. He comes out with a lot of visceral kind of ideas. ... He’s not a policy wonk. That’s why you have good staff, but you’ve got to have some interest in it yourself.”
Observers for months have suggested minimal contact between the Trump campaign and telecom, tech or media policy stakeholders. Thursday’s planned hourlong meeting between the Trump transition team and Washington tech and telecom officials at the BakerHostetler law firm offices is one of the first bigger instances of outreach known since a June meeting between Republican National Committee officials and tech and telecom officials. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, chairman of the transition effort, may attend. The Trump campaign didn’t comment.
Engel doubts, at this point in 2016 campaigning, any proposals would reflect any actual understanding from Trump. “You can come out with policy -- there’s still time, but you have to know the policy, to be able to articulate the policy,” Engel told us. “I don’t think he has much interest in it.” On Trump’s lack of positions on broadband, spectrum and net neutrality, Engel pointed to what he saw as disengagement: “I don’t think he knows about these issues, and I don’t think he really cares about these issues.”
Reticent Republicans
Many Capitol Hill Republicans didn’t relish extended conversation on Trump and his lack of a telecom agenda. “I don’t know,” said House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., who has not endorsed Trump, when asked about the issue. “I’ve not had communications with him.”
The Trump and Clinton campaigns emphasize different elements, said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., a strong Trump backer and former chairman of CTA. He didn’t show any concern about the Trump campaign’s lack of articulated telecom policy but did slam some aspects of Clinton’s backing for Communications Act Title II reclassification of broadband. “I haven’t really looked into it, quite honestly,” said Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., a Communications Subcommittee member. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., freely discussed Clinton's broadband infrastructure plans but concluded the conversation when Trump’s lack of agenda came up. “I don’t know,” Moran said. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., didn’t show any concern when the topic of Trump and telecom policy was raised. “What I look for more is a general policy,” she said.
“We know it’s one of the few things that’s buoying a lackluster economy, right?” Shimkus said of the role of telecom and tech. “The tech community always seems to be moving forward and doing new things.” But he doubted any tech policy rollout in the campaign’s remaining weeks due to the other issues under discussion, and wasn’t sure it would be necessary for Trump to do so with so little time: “We’ve got jobs and the economy. Taxes. Obviously trade. There’s so much stuff flying around.”
Shimkus also emphasized why Republicans would need to address the underlying concerns he has in this policy space. “The FCC is now getting to a point where it’s not helpful, it’s becoming harmful,” he told us. “It’s delaying the processes. And part of the greatness of the telecom community is they innovate, they move fast, and usually you can’t regulate. … My guess is we would preach let the market drive consumer demand and let the tech community move to fill that.”