More FCC Hearings Likely
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and other commissioners could be facing a busy May schedule on Capitol Hill. Lobbyists expect at least two oversight hearings between now and Congress' planned weeklong Memorial Day recess. The Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee, which…
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has jurisdiction over the FCC's budget, plans to hold a hearing with commissioners in the coming weeks to examine the agency's FY 2020 funding request, Chairman John Kennedy, R-La., told us Wednesday. President Donald Trump's administration in March proposed more than $335.6 million in combined FY 2020 funding for the FCC and its Office of Inspector General, of which $11 million would be allocated to OIG (see 1903180063). Pai and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel testified to the House Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee last month about the budget request (see 1904030082). House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., confirmed to reporters he is seeking to hold the subpanel's first FCC oversight hearing of this Congress mid-month, as expected (see 1904230069). House Communications is most likely to hold that hearing May 15, lobbyists said. Doyle and House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said soon after the 2018 election they intend to conduct more critical oversight hearings on the agency after Democrats regained the majority in the House (see 1811140055). House Commerce Democrats saw those efforts initially stymied by the 35-day government shutdown that ended in January and leadership's decision to fast-track consideration on HR-1644 (see 1903270045). Some lobbyists believe a Senate Commerce Committee FCC hearing is also possible but pegged it as less likely than the other two panels. The FCC and Senate Commerce didn't comment.