House Communications GOP Retirements Highlight Turnover Effects After 2020 Election
House Commerce Committee ranking member Greg Walden of Oregon is the most recent in a string of six Communications Subcommittee Republican members who say they won't seek re-election in 2020 (see 1910280020). At the least, just less than half of the subcommittee's GOP roster is leaving at the end of this Congress. That turnover could present opportunities for remaining Republican veterans like House Communications ranking member Bob Latta of Ohio to have even more influence over telecom policymaking beginning in 2021. Some officials and experts we interviewed question how that will change the process.
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The loss of six House Communications Republicans is “a lot” if the party remains in the minority next Congress and “if we retake the majority” in the 2020 election, “there will be a whole bunch of fresh faces” on the subcommittee, Walden told us. The other subcommittee Republicans not seeking re-election are Susan Brooks of Indiana, Bill Flores of Texas, Greg Gianforte of Montana, Pete Olson of Texas and John Shimkus of Illinois. Two House Communications Democrats also won't run again for their seats: Dave Loebsack of Iowa and Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico.
That many departures will mean a certain amount of loss of institutional knowledge for House Communications Republicans because the telecom policy matters the subcommittee handles are “complicated issues, they're intricate and there are lots of pressures” that shape the debate, Walden said. That “may slow things a bit because there will be new members coming in who will have to get up to speed, but you have a great professional staff” handling telecom issues, led by Chief GOP Telecom Counsel Kate O'Connor. She joined House Commerce in September from NTIA (see 1909260033).
“I should think about" holding a “boot camp” on telecom policy so House Communications Republicans can “hit the ground running” once the new Congress convenes, because it would “be a loss to have that many members not up to speed,” Walden said. He cited Latta and Reps. Bill Johnson of Ohio and Billy Long of Missouri as among the current Republican subcommittee members who have an opportunity to take on bigger leadership roles over telecom policy next Congress.
Successors?
Walden noted Latta has been a leader on telecom issues as House Communications ranking member and as a past vice chair of the subpanel. Latta's “terrific on these issues; he knows them well and he thinks them through,” Walden said. “We're blessed with [other subcommittee Republicans like Johnson and Long] who really like this work and do their homework.” It “will be up to whoever is leading [House Commerce Republicans in the next Congress] to put the pieces together” on telecom policy, he said. “I've always tried to empower the subcommittee chairs or now ranking members to really have ownership over their issue sets. Hopefully, that'll pay off.”
Walden isn't pointing to anyone as his preferred successor in the committee's lead GOP seat, telling us he “won't have a vote on that matter.”
Latta told us he's actively pursuing the leadership role.
At least three other senior House Commerce Republicans are also eyeing it, aides and other officials told us: Health Subcommittee ranking member Michael Burgess of Texas, Commerce Oversight Subcommittee ranking member Brett Guthrie of Kentucky and Consumer Protection Subcommittee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington.
Latta told us he sees his experience in shaping House Communications' policy agenda as a significant asset in his bid to become House Commerce's lead Republican. “I've been very fortunate on the telecom side, especially” as Communications vice chair when Walden chaired that subpanel, Latta said. “There were a lot of times when he had to be out and I was effectively chairing the subcommittee.” He noted he has been on all six House Commerce subpanels since becoming a member of the committee, so he's “got a good breadth of experience” on all the policy areas it handles.
Burgess, Guthrie and McMorris Rodgers also have connections to House Commerce's telecom policy apparatus. Burgess and Guthrie are also House Communications members. Guthrie co-chairs the Congressional Spectrum Caucus with House Communications Vice Chair Doris Matsui, D-Calif. McMorris Rodgers isn't a member of the subcommittee but has been frequently involved in telecom policymaking, including as lead sponsor of the Promoting Internet Freedom and Innovation Act (HR-1096), one of three net neutrality bills House Commerce Republicans floated in February (see 1902070056) as alternatives to the Save the Internet Act (HR-1644).
Democrats' Perspective
House Communications Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., told us he believes Commerce Republicans' interest in reaching consensus on telecom policy issues won't subside with Walden's departure. “We've been through several different” lead committee Republicans since Doyle became a member at the start of 2001 and there's always been bipartisan cooperation. “I don't expect it will be any different” under Walden's successor, Doyle said. He noted bipartisan consensus on bills at House Commerce's markup last week, including legislation aimed at improving broadband coverage data collection, supply chain security and reauthorizing the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (see 1911200048).
“There are very few telecom issues that are actually partisan,” with net neutrality being a notable recurring exception, Walden told us: “It's been very hard” to reach a consensus on that issue, but “for most of the others” House Commerce has been able to “set it up right, churn through the policy and get to an outcome that works.” He noted Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., “did that a lot” when she was House Communications ranking member. “The bulk of it can still be done in a bipartisan way, but there will always be one or two [issues] that become contentious,” Walden said.
Eshoo said she believes the departure of Walden and the other five House Communications Republicans will be felt mainly as a “big hole relative to expertise. We all start out somewhere when we get onto” House Commerce. She said new GOP entrants on the subpanel must “ramp up fast to become familiar with” telecom issues “because we [speak] a whole other language there.”
Bipartisanship will still be the committee's goal no matter the ideological makeup because “each side always has to give something” to reach a consensus, Eshoo said. “If there's a brick wall of opposition to something that” the majority party feels “strongly about, then you have to exercise the power that you've got. But we're not about running over [the minority] with Peterbilt trucks. We work together.”
Majority Matters
The effect of Walden's retirement and GOP turnover on House Communications will depend greatly on whether Republicans retake the majority in the 2020 election or remain the minority party, said Georgetown University Government Affairs Institute Senior Fellow Mark Harkins. “If the Democrats maintain control, what happens on the Republican side is going to be muted very heavily because the House is a majoritarian body,” he said. “Those issues will really only re-emerge” either the next time the GOP has control of the chamber “or in two-to-four years.”
If House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and Doyle retain their respective gavels next session, there's unlikely to be any significant shift no matter who becomes the committee's lead Republican, Harkins said. “It really doesn't matter” who the ranking member is unless the majority party “fractures” on policy issues or if there's still split control of the government. “The chairmen run the show and set the agenda,” with the subcommittee head holding 60 percent of the power and the committee head holding the other 40 percent, he said. The committee chairman's priorities “will be the stuff that gets done first,” Harkins said.
House Communications Republican turnover could mean a potential shift in approach on net neutrality legislation, though much would depend on which party controls the White House and Senate, said R Street Institute Tech Policy Manager Tom Struble. He noted potential for more consensus on privacy legislation (see 1911260055), though House Consumer Protection has been the main Commerce subpanel handling that issue. “It certainly seems like the current Congress is not going to be able to get to the finish line” on privacy legislation before the election cycle fully ramps up, Struble said. “Getting new blood in could help them go in one direction or the other,” but it will depend on which lawmakers join the committee in 2021.
“If there's unified Democratic control, then I could see” a potential pivot back to addressing net neutrality via legislation, while a Democratic presidential administration and a split Congress would likely mean the issue would be kicked back to the FCC yet again, Struble said. “It's certainly possible” House Communications Republicans will either cut a deal on net neutrality to get a “relative win” on another telecom issue, but they could also aim to continue pushing for a compromise bill using Communications Act Title I as its legal basis.
Walden and other retiring House Communications Republicans “will certainly be missed,” but “Congress is not supposed to be a life term,” said American Enterprise Institute visiting scholar Roslyn Layton. “It is healthy and normal that people retire and take on new roles, and that new people enter.” Learning the ins and outs of telecom policy “is important for committee service,” but “it is more important that the GOP promote leaders who defend the Constitution,” she said.