Key 2017 Hearings of House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology
Part of House Committee on Energy and Commerce
The videos of the Hearings, listed below, are worth your time to view. They provide the background to understand which Telecom bills are getting traction in both the House and the Senate, and which are not. The bills on this list, appear as 2017 Bills, but many have been introduced in earlier legislative sessions, but not forwarded by the current Republican leadership in the House or Senate or not taken up by the other Chamber. Each of the bills is like a kid waiting to be picked to play in the game: that’s why there are so many similar bills, each is trying to get the right “secret sauce” (language, compromises, bi-partisan support) to get selected and sent into the game. Not surprisingly, bills authored by Republicans get picked more often in this Republican administration, because being the Majority has real privileges. Listen to the frustration of the Democrat Representatives in these videos to get a sense of this process.
- 6/21/17 Video of Hearing on Defining and Mapping Broadband Coverage in America
- 10/11/17 Video of Hearing on Markup of Draft Bill to Reauthorize the Federal Communications Commission (‘FCC’)
- 10/25/17 Video of Hearing on Oversight of the FCC
6/21/17 House Committee on Energy and Commerce:
Defining and Mapping Broadband Coverage in America
View at 42:57: Dr. Robert Wack from Westminster, MD (town of 18,000)
re: public/private partnership for publicly owned fiber-optic network,
providing 1,000 Mbps for everyone: urban, suburban and rural
10/11/17 House Committee on Energy and Commerce
2:00 to 3:00: Person on topic
4:00 to 5:00: Personon topic
6:00 to 7:00: Personon topic
10/25/17 House Committee on Energy and Commerce
FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel
FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly
FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai