Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle (D-PA) asked FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on Monday for information and documents related to the Commission’s current workload, the work of its bureaus and offices, and the agency’s interactions with the public through its handling of consumer complaints and Freedom of Information Act requests.
The lawmakers told Pai in a letter the Committee is reassuming its traditional role of oversight to ensure the agency is acting in the best interest of the public and consistent with its legislative authority. Since Pai assumed the Chairmanship at the FCC two years ago, the agency has been unresponsive to Committee Democrats’ numerous and reasonable oversight requests, according to the lawmakers.
“Not only have you have failed on numerous occasions to provide Democratic members of this Committee with responses to their inquiries, you have also repeatedly denied or delayed responding to legitimate information requests from the public about agency operations,” the Chairmen wrote to Pai. “These actions have denied the public of a full and fair understanding of how the FCC under your leadership has arrived at public policy decisions.”
The Committee Chairmen requested that Pai provide information updating the Committee on FCC activities, including consumer complaints the agency has received on various topics, including: robocalls/spoofing, privacy, open internet/internet service speed, wireless service coverage/availability, access for individuals with disabilities, billing, rural call completion, telemarketing and unwanted calls. Similar requests were made to Pai’s predecessor, Tom Wheeler.
They asked for written responses to their questions by March 4. Comments? Email Us.
February 5, 2019
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