Federal Communications Commission Consolidated Reporting Act of 2013

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2844) to amend the Communications Act of 1934 to consolidate the reporting obligations of the Federal Communications Commission in order to improve congressional oversight and reduce reporting burdens, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials in the Record on the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

The legislation before the House this afternoon, H.R. 2844, the FCC Consolidated Reporting Act, is a bipartisan bill that seeks to provide flexibility and relief to both our job creators as well as the Federal Communications Commission. This bill is another step in the process of streamlining government so that businesses can focus their time and resources on growing our economy and creating jobs instead of complying with outdated and burdensome mandates from the Federal Government. Every dollar spent on outdated FCC reporting mandates is a dollar that could otherwise be spent creating more high-paying jobs and investing in new infrastructure.

H.R. 2844 also recognizes the reality that our Nation is in a fiscal crisis and that we must find ways to do more with less. By consolidating eight annual and tri-annual reports into a single biannual Communications Marketplace Report, not only do we recognize this new budget reality by giving the FCC more flexibility and tools to drive greater efficiencies but we can usher in a platform to analyze the converged nature of today's highly competitive intermodal communications industry, which has moved beyond the traditional confines of the 1992 and 1996 Cable and Communications Act.

This simple, commonsense measure will also ensure that Congress has timely access to the Commission's best analysis of the communication's landscape at the beginning of each Congress by requiring that the Communications Marketplace Report be published in the last quarter of an even-numbered year. This will allow Congress to better use findings to inform our legislative activities.

Mr. Speaker, this bill is a great example of lawmakers from both sides of the aisle coming together to reform outdated government mandates that were created by Congresses of the past. I applaud Chairmen Upton and Walden, as well as Ranking Member Eshoo, for working so closely and cooperatively with me on this legislation; and I strongly encourage my colleagues to join in supporting passage of this commonsense measure.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I want to thank the gentlelady from California, again, for her hard work on this and the good bipartisan cooperation that we've had in making these reforms.

I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Walden), chairman of the Telecommunications Subcommittee.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, as we heard from our constituents, as we just got back from this August work period where many of us held townhall meetings throughout our district, people are frustrated with why Congress can't work together to get things done. I think this is a good example of how both parties came together and looked at some very outdated laws.

People also ask, Why are you always passing laws and why don't you actually get rid of some of the laws on the books that don't make any sense? Well, that's what we're doing here with H.R. 2844. We're actually going through and repealing laws that are burdens to our small businesses that are out there trying to create jobs in the technology industry. One of the great growing segments of our economy is the telecommunications industry; and yet look at some of these reports that they're required and mandated to compile, many of which have no real bearing on the marketplace today. As the chairman of the subcommittee mentioned, we actually do repeal the telegraph report. Why we still have a law on the books that requires a report issued on competitiveness in the telegraph industry--that goes to show how we have so many of these outdated laws on the books still to this day. And Congress from time to time needs to go and repeal outdated rules and regulations like this. That's what we're doing in this legislation.

It's a good, commonsense piece of legislation that we worked on in a bipartisan way to bring to the floor. I urge all my colleagues to pass the legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Louisiana and the gentlelady from California for their great work on this, I think, really good bill.

I was in small business for more than 22 years with my wife, and these are the sorts of odds and ends that can eat a small business alive. It can eat an agency alive as well. These are silly mandates that get put on, often for a good reason initially; but then nobody ever goes back and says, Why are we still asking for a report on the status of the telegraph industry, or whatever else. We went back and did that.

This is the kind of nuts-and-bolts work that I think helps clean up government, helps make it more efficient, makes it more productive, makes it more affordable, and gets out of the way and helps stop doing things it doesn't need to do. Too often, we don't do that.

I think one of the hallmarks of our subcommittee has been a real bipartisan effort to make sure that when we create programs, we then follow and make sure they're working, like we're doing with FirstNet and the Incentive Auctions, to try and track and make sure it's working and then to dig deeper and look for those things that aren't working or they're outdated, yet put a burden on an agency and cost either those who pay for that agency through their taxes or through fees, or whatever. It's all coming out of the private economy into the government economy. We need to stop that.

So this bill consolidates eight separate congressionally mandated reports on the communications industry into a single comprehensive report. As my colleague from Louisiana said, it changes the timeline so that Congress can get the information in a better and timely manner. And it cuts cost. I hope this bill will receive strong bipartisan support in the House. I assume it will. And I hope that our friends across the building will in this Congress take it up and pass it as well.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the bipartisan work of my friends from California and from Louisiana. I urge the House to approve this measure and send it expeditiously over to the Senate.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in support of H.R. 2844, a bill to streamline many of the outdated reporting requirements that Congress has placed on the Federal Communications Commission. At a time when agency resources are limited, this bill, I think, is an example of how to make the FCC's reporting obligations more efficient, which in turn will ensure that the agency can focus on its mission to protect the public interest and promote competition across the communications marketplace.

The bill also ensures that the FCC has the flexibility to continue assessing the state of competition, which is so essential and so important in our

country across the entire communications marketplace, including particular submarkets like wireless, cable, and satellite. This data is vital to both consumers and to policymakers.

I want to thank Chairman Walden; certainly the chairman of the full committee, Chairman Upton; and most especially, Representative Scalise, for pursuing this legislation in a bipartisan manner and for working with me to ensure that the expert agency, the FCC, was included in our deliberations.

Mr. Speaker, the House passed a similar bill in the last Congress. So I recommend to all of our colleagues this very sensible bill that, again, is something that all Members can stand for, and that is to streamline a Federal agency and kind of get rid of some of the weeds of the past and clear a better path for the agency to continue, again, assessing the state of competition across the entire communications marketplace.

So with that, Mr. Speaker, I don't believe I have any speakers on this side. I urge my colleagues--everyone in the House--to support the bill. I think it deserves that kind of support.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably absent during the week of September 9, 2013. If I were present, I would have voted on the following.

Monday, September 9, 2013: Rollcall No. 448: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass H.R. 2052, ``yea''; rollcall No. 449: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass H.R. 2844, ``yea.''

Tuesday, September 10, 2013: Rollcall No. 450: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass H.R. 1155, ``yea''; rollcall No. 451: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass H.R. 2747, ``yea''; rollcall No. 452: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass S. 130, ``yea''; rollcall No. 453: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass S. 304, ``yea''; rollcall No. 454: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass S. 256, ``yea''; rollcall No. 455: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass S. 459, ``yea''.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013: Rollcall No. 456: Motion on Ordering the Previous Question on the Rule for H.R. 2775, ``nay''; rollcall No. 457: On Agreeing to the Resolution providing the Rule on H.R. 2775, ``nay''.

Thursday, September 12, 2013: Rollcall No. 458: On Passage of H.R. 2775, ``nay''; rollcall No. 459: On passage of the Journal, ``aye'' 621.

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained in a classified security briefing on Syria and missed H.R. 2052, the Global Investment in American Jobs Act of 2013, as amended. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.''

On H.R. 2844, the Federal Communications Commission Consolidation Reporting Act, I would have voted ``aye,'' and on the Journal vote, I would have voted ``aye.''