Timely Availability of Items Adopted By Vote of the Federal Communications Commission

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2589.

For the past several years, Republicans have been focused on changing procedures at the Federal Communications Commission. The bill we are considering today demonstrates that Democrats are willing to work with Republicans on these ideas when the proposals are reasonable.

The original bill had some issues. It would have required the FCC to post within 24 hours of adoption any final rules that were modified by the Commission. Such a requirement was inconsistent with the Administrative Procedure Act, which requires that any rule changes are accompanied by an explanatory text.

Additionally, the original bill failed to take into account the fact that in many cases where there is a delay in the release of FCC decisions, it is usually due to late receipt of dissenting statements from some Commissioners. To fix these issues, Democrats proposed an amendment during markup to provide the FCC to post, in its entirety, the text of any actions within 24 hours after dissenting Commissioners file their statements. The improvements ensure that this bill will not force the FCC to act in conflict with other laws, such as the Administrative Procedure Act.

I urge my colleagues to support the bill.
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