House telecom subpanel to mark up FCC reform bills next Wednesday

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology will hold a markup next on Nov. 16 to discuss Chairman Greg Walden's (R-Ore.) bills to reform processes and reporting requirements at the Federal Communications Commission.

Walden has been an outspoken critic of the FCC's recent actions including passing net-neutrality rules and the protracted review of the NBC Universal-Comcast merger, which was approved only after the inclusion of a plethora of conditions addressing issues such as diversity and online video access.

Earlier this month he joined Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) in unveiling the two bills, which would overhaul the way the commission does business and force it to justify any potential regulations with cost-benefit analyses.

The legislation would also codify the commission's informal "shot clock" for merger reviews and consolidate its eight separate Congressional reports into a single, comprehensive report. 

The bill is likely to draw support from Republicans, who lost an attempt to overturn the FCC's net-neutrality rules in the Senate on Thursday. House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has accused the independent agency of being too close to the White House and allowing political concerns to dictate rulemaking.

But Senate Democrats and the White House have been largely supportive of the commission and its chairman, Julius Genachowski, a longtime friend of President Obama's.

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