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President Supports Deregulatory Agenda at FCC
WASHINGTON, D.C. - PFF President Jeffery A. Eisenach and Director of Communications Policy Studies Randolph J. May today applauded President Bush’s statement supporting the FCC’s deregulatory agenda on broadband, which came during remarks at a White House High Tech Forum earlier this afternoon. Both Eisenach and May attended the event.
“President Bush left no doubt that FCC Chairman Michael Powell has his full support to move ahead on broadband deregulation,” Eisenach said upon leaving the event. “Just as the Administration lent its support to the FCC’s decision to lift ownership caps on wireless spectrum, the President has now personally given the green light to move forward on broadband.”
“The FCC is an independent agency, and it will of course have to make its decisions on the basis of the facts and the law,” May added, “but it still has a great deal of discretion under the 1996 Telecommunications Act. President Bush made clear his view that the Commission’s apparent intention of using that discretion in a deregulatory way has his full support.”
“In the end, decisions about policy issues like broadband are made in a political context,” Eisenach continued. “Many of us have attributed the slow pace of activity at the FCC to concerns that it might face political opposition to any deregulatory steps it takes. Any basis for such concerns, at least as far as the White House is concerned, has now been erased.”
Both Eisenach and May served on the Bush Administration’s transition team for the Federal Communications Commission.
The Progress & Freedom Foundation is a market-oriented think tank that studies the digital revolution and its implications for public policy. It is a 501(c)(3) research & educational organization.
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