david stewart, sunday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span's q1 day. a.q and bretpreme court nominee kavanaugh continues to meet with senators on capitol hill. leading up tocess the senate confirmation hearings, and the vote. watch live on c-span and any time on c-span. hour, or listen with the free c-span radio app. next, testimony from the commissioners on the fcc of the operations of the regulatory agency. we heard about net work upgrades to accommodate five g technology, spectrum auctions and wireless broadband availability in rural and remote areas. held by house commerce subcommittee, this is two hours 40 minutes. [inaudible conversations]

connect the subcommittee communications and technology will come to order i want to thank our witness is for being here we appreciate you having here today and i recognize myself a five minute. welcome to the is hearing on oversight of the sec. today it marks the first time in 28 years that fcc has appeared before the subcommittee by being reauthorized by congress i am delighted to to welcome the recently reauthorized commission at first it reflects bipartisan support with a fcc and the important work it carries out each day to enhance public safety and technology to strengthen our national security and to protect consumers while fostering competition and

innovation in the communications marketplace also to demonstrate each of the commissioners articulate how that action benefit the organization i know they can deliver the same for your colleagues well that's is charged with the task one of the critical roles is for public safety that the technologies with the impending emergencies aiding in the restoration of communication that the fcc is to make sure our communication system is there when american need lifesaving information this is furthered through the

911 service platform. being the 50th anniversary of the first 911 call we have been working with the fcc to improve the 911 system and to facilitate the transition to 911 services into advanced public safety before and after emergency working closely with the subcommittee to promote broadband access to close the digital divide we all agree on the benefits of broadband to all americans and this is especially true in rural america to include a number of bipartisan provisions for members of the subcommittee and commerce committee to

remove the federal barriers increasing the spectrum and just last week i hearing on rural broadband we heard from a variety of stakeholders in the impact i look forward to hearing more today to implement legislation i also look forward to hearing the recommendations to improve connectivity for communities that are in desperate need of improvement to education and healthcare services with oversight with oversight from the sec to remain focused on the key priorities to focus the work of this commission and i yield the balance of my time.

>> this is the most important responsibility we have on the subcommittee it has been my honor to work with every member of the commission and the strongest capacity possible and moving forward to make sure we work with bipartisan cooperation on the issues so important to the american nation i yield back the balance of my time. >> i recognize the ranking member for five minutes. >> thank you madam chair for holding this overdue hearing and thank you to the witnesses . . . .

as opposed to the commission's actions. these rules prote -- i'm happy to say the senate has already passed a resolution restoring these rulese hope we have a vote on our own resolution here in the house.

the rest of the commission has been no better on the essential communications tool for millions of americans including veterans and seniors. the commission has made a series of decisions including consolidation among broadcasters from eliminating the main studio rule to the weakening rules in the change that congressionally established national ownership. it seems that in each of these actions, they benefit broadcast corporations and that means the public worse off. the chair man claimed he cares about the deployment, but the commission not to burden wireless carriers with reporting where they have wireless service deployed imposed as part of mobility fund a bizarre and onerous challenge process that requires providers to hire people to walk through fields and backyards trying to prove

ththe communities don't have wireless service and of those companies can't afford to send people out, the commission will assume they are connected. tell me how does that help the 24 million americans without access to high-speed broadband? how does making changes to the span to make it less accessible to the road wireless providers deploying broadband and hard to reach communities and have the commission and this committee is a shared goal of closing the digital divide. this commission's reckless actions on broadband data services and retirement were so corporate friendly the white house advisor for telecommunications policies recently said that they remain, quote, concerned, however that streamlined regulatory requirements may place on the departments and agencies that rely on the service is subject to the continuance of to lose

access to the national security and public safety communications functionality. how is the commission putting the convenience of carriers about the nation's national security and public safety needs? that's besides the impact policies have on schools, libraries, hospitals, small businesses and competitors but also rely on the services. what about american's privacy? senator wyden thought they had been sharing the real-time location data of hundreds of millions of cell phones with third parties without consent from their users. that included sharing information from law enforcement agencies but use the data to illicitly look up americans location data without a warrant or due process. and we don't even know the scope of the problem because the commission was asleep at the wheel. i understand that the commission is not investigating, but how were you so in the dark but with a widespread street practice and

with confidence can the committee have said the commission will take appropriate enforcement action against carriers that have so recklessly shared at the location data without our consent? again and again the commission failed its obligations to uphold the public interest and has instead repeatedly cited with corporations over consumers and in waiting nine months to do this oversight hearing the committee has been complicit in the actions by turning a blind eye and being derelict in the responsibilities to provide oversight for this agency. i read while i am pleased the commission issued a hearing order for the sinclair merger and in so doing acknowledged the near universal concerns about the honesty and candor i'm extremely concerned the president has waded into this issue and i hope you can assure us the president's message last night will not cause a commission to change course or affect the proceedings of an

administrative law judge. thank you and i will yell back. >> the chairman of the full committee is recognized for five minutes. >> i want to thank you for your leadership on these topics, specifically highlighting the improving emergency alert services as well as outreach to the minority on the ncaa reauthorization. reauthorization. we authorized the fcc for the first time in 28 years in the act. in fact i think that's the last time you were here to testify before us, mr. chairman. the efforts of the wildfire hurricane response focused on emergency alert and may improve location accuracy that are key priority for all of us. we reauthorized the fcc for the first time in two decades and appreciated the commission's input on the work and thanks to

the hard work of everyone on the committee were able to incorporate from 18 bipartisan bills that now form the act that is law. so we do try to work together whenever we can on these issues, 18 issues and i think we did 57 on opioids virtually all of which were bipartisan, so i look forward to hearing about the progress in implementing this important law such as the broadcast act. the commission has been busy doing work and we provide an extra billion dollars in fixed somand fixedsome of the issues e there to make sure that translators and radio stations could get their antennas moved and equipment moved so we could free up spectrum and i know the commission under your leadership and others successfully pulled off the best reverse auction in

history. you brought to our attention the issue involving the elegantly of the funds that came to the commission you couldn't put them anywhere legally even though your predecessor did, so we picked that and the was important. i want to thank you for coming out to my district last month. we traveled around and saw the health clinic and i want to commend them on the medicine peace. that made a huge and positive difference for the clinics and you added 171 million over the 400 million cast. you heard firsthand when you were out there meeting with the clinic and i appreciated the discussion we had with the broadcasters and i think you got a taste for the seventh or eighth largest congressional district is even though we never got out of one county we were there all day. the commissione commissioner and conversations about the

challenge facing the radio industry which i have some experience. my colleagues at the great face for radio. radio was my original story and my fathers as well, and i think it's an organ part of the country's framework and fabric for sharing information and entertainment. we're sharing the same voice as newspapers unfortunately which never gained the benefits for some 15 years. and he's captured oncentities cy regulations from another time. we are trapped in a constant time warp that regulations of the 70s or 1930s for that matter somehow were not for the present-day or beyond. some wanted to take us back to a regime of the 1930s. we will discuss the landscape today as well and another sect sector. an example if the callout a year ago and then a few months ago

inviting the ceo of some of the greatest innovative technology companies to please come here and share with us before the committee the concerns and recommendations on a wide range of topics. the rhetoric around the issues has become like watching the old television show waiting to get the main program. we sit here and listen to the same falsehoods and crept away privacy and net neutrality while the reality is alway is all we's restore the bipartisan equilibrium and regulatory framework is said to have existed three years ago. mom and pop startups found their way through the framework and we now know facebook, google, netflix, they all grew up in theialifetime framework not wite 1930s way that we regulated telephones. in this committee we have the benefit of hearing the critics speak out loud. though unlike other voices that seek to destroy our daily discourse.

the chairman knows all too well be careful if you're a you are a conservative with your views be known. i'm sorry for what you and your family have gone through whether you are on the right or the left, somewhere here we have to get back the humanity where we are not shouting at each other and threatening each other but instead trying to work out our differences. we do that a lot in this committee and we will continue. with that, madam chair thank you for this hearing and i will yield back the balance of my time. at this time i recognize the ranking members of the full committee for five minutes. >> thank you madam chair. the center communications commission as an independent created by the congress gave the agency brought over and responsibility to protect consumers and advance competition for the service at reasonable rates and enhance public safety. in other words, to work in the public interest. it's hard to ensure the commission's actions advance those goals and tol holds the te

chairman and accountable when agency does not. unfortunately the majority of the committee has been unwilling to follow through on its promise to hold quarterly oversight hearings and this is the first oversight hearing in nine months and only the third in this congress. the commission has acted contrary to its core mission in the partisan votes the agency dismantled protections for consumers and initiated numerous proceedings designed to benefit corporations t to the trunk of working-class americans and local communities. by far the most high-profile controversial decision was the elimination of the net neutrality rules and the secrets protected consumers and small businesses and protected free speech. the chair man ignored the majority of the 24 million comments from individuals and businesses supporting net neutrality. it's not surprising that the order faces massive consumer opposition, public outreach from startup companies, working

families, educators, health care professionals and so many other town halls and community centers that have driven congressional action. the controlled senate passed legislation to reinstate net neutrality and the ranking member is now championing the legislation here in the house and it's not too late to stand with the american people and restore net neutrality and they urge the speaker to bring the legislation up for a vote and stand with the members of signed a petition to force on. sadly this regard for consumers is not in there and at the time when other agencies are separating children from the families of the borders and violence at school is far too commonplace they want to rollback the rules that limit advertising to children and require stations educational programming for kids. if the agency were serious about focusing on consumers, they would want to help parents searching for quality educational programming and shield children from enough make them easy targets for big

business. another example siding with corporations over consumers, the chairman changes the fcc media protection undermining competition and diverse viewpoints in favor of corporate consolidation. while they gratefully acknowledge that sinclair's proposed merger and related divestitures the rollback of the media rules opened the door for the next sinclair. universal service, critical to the most formidable populations also has been undermined. the proposal to revise the lifeline program is a particularly egregious example and adopted it could cut phone or internet service to approximately 8.3 million people. these are single mothers struggling to get by, veterans searching for jobs and seniors on fixed incomes at risk of being left behind. they should be looking for ways to help these participants in the community and not just cut them off and finally while the commission has worked to update

the emergency alert system and d advance the next-generation implement it has fallen short making cyber security a priority. they've retreated from the efforts of the previous administrations in a time when cyber criminals foreign and domestic are becoming more aggressive. today's communication networks connect businesses, consumers and government agencies and the networks drive the modern economy, the same networks provide a target for cyber attacks are criminal gangs and nationstates. as the agency charged with safety the fcc should work with and encourage companies to develop this practice idevelop n address board and prepare for cyber security attacks. since they assured the response of the congress should become nothing more in the future so i want to thank the chair and the commission for appearing before us today and look forward to your testimony and i will yield back.

>> that concludes the opening statement and i remind all members pursuant to the committee rules all members opening statements will be made a part of the record and we are going to try to get through our opening statements before the votes ar were called about 1:40. i want to thank all of you for being here today. today's witnesses will have the opportunity to give their opening statements and it will be followed by a round of questions from the members. our panels today include the chairman, commissioner o'reilly, commissioner carr and commissioner rose and marshall. we appreciate that you are here and that your testimony was prepared and submitted on time. we will go in order of seniority which is the tradition of the subcommittee and i will begin with you today, chairman pai. >> thank you for holding this hearing. i appreciate the chance to

update you on the fcc works. before i do, i would like to thank the subcommittee for its assistance. it contained a host of provisions that are already having a positive impact on the work. perhaps most importantly it corrected a technical problem involving deposit. with this fix in place we are moving forward aggressively to options and moving a substantial amount of spectrum into the commercial marketplace. this year we are commencing this option followed immediately by the 24 gigahertz band. in 2019 we intend to hold the spectrums of 37, 39 and 47 gigahertz. combined, these will make almost five gigahertz of spectrum available and advance the leadership in the next generation of wireless connectivity. none of this would have been possible without the

subcommittee's leadership. the fcc also benefited from the support in carrying out large priority is closing the digital divide. yesterday they kicked off the connect america fund reverse option that would provide up to $2 billion over the next decade to bring broadband to underserved areas across rural america. earlier this year we dedicated 500 million in additional funding to assist small carriers and broadband and proposed almost $1 billion to restor resd improve communication networks in puerto rico and the virgin islands causing the devastating hurricane season. he boosted to the medicines promised extending funding and health care program by 43%, $171 million. funding is that we are also modernizing the rules cutting through the red tape making it easier for broadband providers to invest in the next-generation

networks. we've extended the small cells from the federal historic preservation and environmental review process designed for the traditional tellers and we updated the service regulations and reformed the rules to make it easier for companies to upgrade from the networks of yesterday to be resilient networks of tomorrow. here makdear make it easier andr including access to utility poles with one touch rules proposed by the broadband deployment advisory committee. and we have returned to the successful light touch regulatory framework under which the internet flourished in the united states from 1996 until 2015. i'm pleased to report that the policies are working. according to a recent study in 2017, more commercial buildings in the united states added fiber connections than in any year since at least 2004. and according to the figures

released today it appears broadband network investment in the united states increased by between $1.53 billion in 2017. reversing the decline in the last two years in the prior administration. this increased investment is having a tangible positive impact on american consumers and they will give you one example. small internet service provider based in springfield vermont. the company reported recently because of the recent policies, if committed $4 million to purchase equipment and services to upgrade its core to enable the wi-fi calling to all of the rural subscribers and to simultaneously begin rolling out faster mobile broadband to start the transition. ththethe detailed concludes andi quote again, it's quite optimistic about the future with a significant reason for the optimism. in short, we are on the right track and i'm confident we will continue to see more positive results in the months ahead as more of the policies take hold.

i am also pleased in the amount of bipartisan cooperation we've seen at the fcc. this year for example fewer than 6% or one in 16 of our over 100 votes have been party lines. of course there will be times when we disagree. but my hope is that the debate will be based on facts with the law and grounded in reality. i will close on a personal note. i love this agency. i've worked as a staffer and then as an appointee. it's been a tremendous honor to lead a discussion the last 18 months. a major reason why is because theiget to work alongside and he gotten to know the fantastic staff, those that race towards the areas to help and try to make the technologies available to the americans with disabilities intdisabilities int sours representinstars represeny abroad and more. as for me the issues i face are

challenging. the decisions haven't always been easy but so long as i have the privilege of serving as the chairman, i'm going to find the facts, follow the law and call them what they see them. chairman blackburn, ranking member doyle and the members of the subcommittee, thank you for holding this hearing and i look forward to continuing to work with you and your staff in the time to come. >> the gentleman yield. mr. o'reilly, you are recogniz recognized. stack my thanks to chairman blackburn and the members to engage on so many important communications issues. at the outset i would like to thank the representatives and their cosponsors for the leadership of the art.

today i would like to highlight a few critical issues that have been a focus of mine. first i believe the ongoing problem must end once and for all. beyond deceiving the ratepayers have consequences for the american people in need of critical emergency assistance and some of the darkest moments in our lives. the commission's ninth annual report to the committee which relied on the reporting by the states and territories show they diverted almost 130 million away from the 911 and hand guns towards other unrelated purposes. if yo you get up and start being labeled a tapered or they would rather not submit the necessary paperwork. this information is that a finding that is a substantial sl diverted the funds from on public safety purposes.

they clarified that reoccurrence and it included illinois, new mexico, oklahoma and puerto ri rico. representative collins and plans to address the recalcitrant states like new jersey, rhode island and guam and identifying and shaming these states hasn't adequately worked. second, the commission is focused on taking every necessary step to provide all americans the opportunity to access broadband services and at the same time the commission's efforts should be examined in parallel with programs by other federal agencies. congress allocated a part of the consolidated act from 2018 and 600 million for the broadband pilot program to be administered

to a as a part of the senate and house farm bills. efforts to provide the new federal money are commendable there is a potential for certain problems to arise particularly there is a significant possibility that it could be used to subsidize areas that already have broadband or fund providers in competition with those that receive subsidies or may have built up plans that require them to provide service in the future. the federal funding should be targeted to address the 14 million plus americans without any broadband today. i would humbly suggest that only the proper production from the e right leadership such as this subcommittee can prevent a bad outcome and this concludes the bill this fall i hope you consider safeguards with other programs in the alignment of the programs and focu that focus ony unserved. last, turning to the spectrum

policy the commission has been hard at work ensuring sufficient spectrum is available for the generation wireless services. i recognized years ago there was the need for solid carriers to offer the services both domestically and internationally. it was feed banned downlink for this purpose i was to provide significant continuous spectrum in the largest satellite operators receptive to reducing the spectrum footprint using a market-based spectrum reallocation approach. i also agree with the representatives who recently noted to the commission at its necessary as an ingredient to address the need for more unlicensed spectrum and must be part of the final rule. i want to thank you for holding the hearing and look forward to answering any questions that you may have. >> the gentleman yield spec. >> you are recognized. >> [inaudible]

>> microphone please. >> chairman blackburn, ranking member doyle, distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for the invitation to testify. i've had the honor of working with you and your staff as a commissioner for nearly a year. it's been a tremendously rewarding and productive time. i am proud of the work the agency has accomplished and i want to commend the subcommittee on its own notable achievements from identifying additional spectrum and the act to enhancing public safety, to encouraging broadband deployment including for the position mac. at the fcc to my focused on we can do to help bring more broadband to more americans. this has meant working closely with my colleagues at the commission but also spending time outside of dc to see firsthand how the policies impact communities across the country. the past 11 months i visited 17

states and benefited from the perspectives gained on the road with her at townhall chelsea michigan, roundtable and stanton of alaska or the kitchen table with a family that wanted a better and faster broadband. i spent time with the construction crews that are doing the hard often gritty work that goes into deploying broadband networks. in fact in arcadia indiana, congresswoman susan brooks introduced me to two hoosiers, mark and scott, they are brothers that run a small fixed wireless provider. having claimed everything from barnes to grain elevators to attach antennas needed to bring broadband to the indiana farm lands. i've seen similar efforts in the communities across the country that_way the work is so important. we want every community to get a fair shot at the next-generation connectivity. one year ago i noted the

challenge we faced to extending american leadership in wireless has been moved from four g. to five g. networks. i testified about the need for the fcc to focus on two things, spectrum and infrastructure. the commission has made substantial progress on both. i want to focus on the second part on infrastructure. i appreciate the chairman asking to lead the efforts on wireless infrastructurin wirelessinfrasty taken several steps to ensure the regulatory structures are ready. as you know the networks are going to look very different than the deployments of the past and the regulatory framework that worked for the 100 towers won't work for the new small deployments so we're working to modernize the approach from certain procedures designed for those large towers. this step is expected to cut cot about 30% of the total cost of

deploying small souls. this can help with the business case for thousands of communities particularly rural areas that might otherwise miss out on the next connectivity. in one place we increased the deployment that will pay off in healthcare. for years the fcc has been supporting broadband deployment to healthcare facilities, there's a new trend. it's towards connected care everywhere. the delivery of high-tech high-quality care is no longer limited to the confines of the connected brick and mortar facilities with remote patient monitoring and mobile health implications, we have the technology to deliver health care directly to patients regardless of where they are located. i saw this two weeks ago in the mississippi delta where the connected care is already making a difference. it's very met annie who noticed the first signs of diabetes when she woke up one morning with word division and after seeing little progress with the care

options come she signed up for the remote patient monitoring program and showed me the ipad and bluetooth enabled glucose monitor she used to track her care on a daily basis. she can check her blood sugar levels and give instant feedback including steps she can take that day to statheday to stay h. with this technology, the levels have gone down and she says she's never felt better. research backs up to see these results showing significant cost savings and improved outcomes with connected care so we should align the public policy in support of the movement in tele- health. that's why in god they asked me to lead the new initiative which will consider at our august meeting. the pilot program aims to provide up to $100 million to support the connected to deployment to focus on low income patients. i look forward to working with all stakeholders as we see common establishing the program

and chairman blackburn, ranking member doyle, members of the committee thank you again for holding this hearing and i welcome your questions. >> the gentleman yield spec. >> afternoon chairman blackburnn blackburn, ranking members of the subcommittee. thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. i believe the future belongs to the connected no matter who you are or where you live in this country you need access to modern communication to have a fair shot at the 21st century success. clearing the way for this connected future should be at the heart of everything we do at the federal communications commission. it's been nine months today since we last appeared before you for an oversight hearing. nine months is a long time, the equivalent of a school year so let me offer the equivalent of a quick year-end report. too many americans still lack

access to broadband. let me put a number on it. right now, 24 million americans do not have access to high-speed service. that's not acceptable. we need to do better. too often during the last nine months the agency acted at the behest of corporate forces that surround it shortchanging the american people. you can see that with the rollback of net neutrality and see it with our efforts to foster the deployment of new networks that the failure to fully engage those who need a voice in our policies in the cities and towns that should be our partner in the process, the tribal communities that are entitled to the government to government consultation and the department of commerce which just expressed concerned about how the rush to reform could harm national security and public safety services. likewise, you see it in the proposed reforms that undermine our lifeline program and the populations that rely on it

including those served by domestic violence shelters, military veterans, homeless youth and the residents of puerto rico that are still recovering from the storms and grave humanitarian crisis. too often procedures for short t for good governance requires. the mapping practices for broadband do not accurately reflect the state of connectivity on the ground. the claim that the agency suffered a distributed denial of service attack following the report from the net neutrality plans is not credible. in the meantime the agency has ignored the fact that this public docket is flooded with fraud including half a million comments from russia and 2 million individuals with stolen identities to. so many people think washington is against them.

it saddens me when this agency proved them right. the report cards to not only look to the past, they also offer a night in the future and take on what is possible. there is a desire to extend the reach of broadband service and lead the world in the wake of his deployment and to bring the opportunities of the digital age to more people and more places. i see the same everywhere i go in the last few weeks i've been in rural new mexico in urban new york they visited schools that lack broadband at home and struggle with likely schoolwork. there are 12 million children in every state across the country with this problem. they fell into a catholic a gae coolest part of the digital divide but i also saw they are trying to address this gap so every student has a decent chance of success experimenting

with school buses, looking at running out hotspots in libraries and exploring public wifi in their communities. they deserve support and plan to address the gap so no child is left off-line. i still believe it's within our capability to produce one is as a. when i last appeared before you nine months ago i alone expressed concern about how the agency had bent and twisted so many of its media policies to serve the business plans of this one company. this change for me agency adopted an order designating the transaction and i want to thank my colleagues and fishermen for the effort to reach consensus on this matter with me close by saying thank you and i look forward to any questions you may have.

thank you for your testimony and we are now going to move to questions and recognize myself for five minutes of questions. something we are focused on in the emergency alert and the 911 systems. it's a good solid bipartisan initiative to help the resources bringing those to bear during an emergency and it's primarily the tool in the resiliency in the aftermath of hurricane harvey and the widespread use of the

alert. how will the addition of opening up the wifi access point and emergency in addition to the location information to reach those in need of emergency. >> thank you to eat up a loan for your leadership. we want to move the critical information. if it could help introduce even more detailed granular information about where the caller is in combination with gps information and cellular b. access points can give a textured view to the 911 call centers and help them to pinpoint where somebody is to be able to dispatch quicker.

additionally a lot of companies are thinking very forward for example apple released bracket sos and one of my chairs talked about the fact they could use things like this to accurately and quickly target people in a situation of need. >> looking at states and localities, do you think this is going to help to encourage that? when you think about needing the help quickly and responders that are working diligently to get resources to people, one of the things is we worked on this issue with next gen to make certain that it is more reliable

and widely used. >> i will give you an example of why that is so. i visited the office of communications that handles the calls that come into the district. every year they get approximately 10,000 emergency calls because the caller is near the border. imagine the access points that could allow responders to know when they received a call we are getting the call from the district we don't waste a precious seconds to figure out which jurisdiction needs to get that cold that could save lives in a pinch. >> commissioner, i want to come to you on something as you know i've worked for years on the privacy issue.

inquiring about the reports of the unauthorized disclosure of the wireless subscribers and i'm pleased that you all are in this getting this as well as we are all concerned about protecting the consumer privacy. and on this broad topic, last night i received a letter from our friends on the electronic privacy information center and to quote from the letter it says it is clear they have the ability to enact internet privacy rules. the fcc has the authority to regulate companies such as facebook and google through ancillary jurisdiction. do you agree with that assertion? >> no i don't. >> do you believe section 706 telecommunications act or any other provision gives the authority to also regulate to

providers? >> i do not believe it gives th2 fixed wireless providers regarding the ban and noted and i quote without the licenses we will have no ability to acquire the spectrum on this van. that would be an intolerable outcome that would harm the mobile broadband businesses and inhibit our ability to grow, but worse it would harm the millions of consumers for whom the spectrum is the key to the high-speed access.

i would note your parents are served by way of wireless and you refer to the good work in indiana that serve serves ms. bs district. both of these were part of the companies that sen sent you that letter so i would like to ask each of the commissioners and this is just a simple yes or no question will you commit to maintaining the census tract licenses in this ban? >> keys provided a lot of analysis of the questions, but i don't want to presuppose what direction he wants to recommend for the full commission. >> we don't want to presuppose the results we are still studying the issue and i'm looking at it along with commissioner raley. >> i like the direct answer.

i don't agree with it, but i like it. >> one yes, one undecided and one intervention or still looking at the issue as undecided. >> we haven't reached the endpoint. >> i mentioned in my opening statement many stakeholders including the federal government or concerned about your plans regarding the discontinuance of the service and the changes to the market that could place the national security and public safety operations in an unattainable position. aren't you concerned that in addition to the potential loss of service for some customers are telling u us they cut their bills increased by 175%? i'm kind of concerned it's not

only putting the carrier's interest over the public that endangering our public safety for national security and leading to a huge rate increase from people to have the service. how do you respond to that? >> that was strange. is that a phone ring? [inaudible] mr. olson trying to play with new technology in the technology committee. [laughter] he apologizes and it is accepted. mr. doyle, you are reclaiming your time. >> we can address some of the concerns we are hearing about the market and i will try to address those. we certainly welcome this and it's part of the reason we have been open comment process to take public input. if you look at the overall

tenure of the letter it is quite supportive of our approach unless we do want to take those concerns into account. with respect overall cut the price increase as you described are precisely the reason why it's important to us to preserve the authority as well as the ability of private companies to complain directly under section 208 to adjudicate complaints about the violation of the rules and third if you look at the overall gist, the price regulation deters a different reason. if you are an owner of that infrastructure and there's heavy price regulation would have listened and to build infrastructure. similarly if you are relying on that infrastructure is less likely to go but over your own. why would you when they put a finger on the scale in terms of price regulation. the goal is to preserve the ability of the entrance for a complaint about unreasonable

charges while also promoting an incentive to get more fiber out and the result speak for themselves if you look at my opening statement for the first time over 50% of the mid-sized commercial buildings were connected with fiber. we want every one of those buildings to be connected and we think that this market approach started with the late 1990s as thisthe right way to go. >> let me ask one last question. the letter to the fcc regarding the real-time location data and the company secured technologies and on may 18, the senator called on you to recuse herself from the investigation based on your past work presenting. have you reduced you recused he? >> i have not. >> that was my next question did you get an opinion as to whether or not you should recuse herself? >> yes i did. >> i appreciate the commissioners being here and i

believe we sent a letter as well to the companies on the same issue obviously we all care about privacy and data locationn issues got something we have been pursuing for some time. let's switch to the van. the national public radio commercial broadcast companies depend on it for content distribution to about 100 million households. that's obviously a lot of people in every state, every congressional district. oncongressional district. one of the challenges to ensure non- interference with downlink system of the exact locations of hundreds of thousands of unregistered received only station. what's the commissio commissiont identify the location of these stations to ensure that protected harmful interference and what steps is the commission seeking to balance these goals to ensure we win the race to require more spectrum and protection of the broadcasters and cable companies depend upon? >> thank you for the question and i think you put your finger

on the two that we need to pair in this proceeding. we try to address the concerns identified by the need to figure out where the stations are in a few different ways. for example we reduced th reducs required to file some of these records and extended timeframe by 90 days, so i believe october 17 is when the deadline is for reporting. we recognize that some of these entities are smaller and might not have the resources to compile the study requiring that the traditional rules so it's important to streamline the process to allow them to get as much information as they can into the record. we are confident steps like this will enable us to get a robust level of cooperation and enable us to make a fully informed decision about the appropriate disposition of the band. >> as the heard from many members on both sides of the aisle, we need to do more as a country to connect each other with high-speed data and

broadband connections. what can you tell us about the work the fcc is doing today to close this digital divide and what should we look forward to going forward and what do you need from us ask >> i don't want to use the remainder of your time but i will say is with the two critical tools in the toolbox we have that is modernization of the regulations and the widest distribution of the funding we're making major steps towards closing the digital divide in the program that started yesterdayesterday for the first broadband option with a $4.5 billion mobility fund that will start next year and some of the initiatives that may appear smaller but i can tell you on the ground in places like pendleton oregon and ohio they are not small, the telemedicine is one of the things the american people understand especially in the communities where it's hard to attract those

like my parents that work on wireless. it's difficult to get them the only way some of the folks in the communities get adequate health care is through telemedicine and use all the response for yourself as did i at the clinic in oregon when they heard the news we were proposing to increase by 43% of the budget for the health care program. they broke out into applause and recognized this as a lifeline for some of these communities. the big cities and districts and there's a lot of smaller towns that would never see a specialist and i'm proud of the steps we've taken. we've done a lot for the rural areas making it easier to build a tower in the areas where lay fiber in places there may not be the case for deployment and i think often about some of the visit i've had including your district in oregon where they told me some of the steps we are taking to make it easier to gain access to the polls and get more

spectrum those are the tools that are necessary for the companies, the ones that don't make the headlines that nobody knows about, those are the things that will help them close the digital divide. >> i think for us to spectrum and infrastructure are the critical input and i outlined the steps we were taking to move quickly and having just come from a couple conferences where i can tell you my counterparts were envious and interested in how quickly we are moving the united states is in the lead in terms of the spectrum leadership in the service infrastructure, the commissioner has done a good job in leading the efforts and we need to think progressively about how to modernize the regulations in the world of a few sparsely populated cell towers is fading away. the hundreds of thousands being deployed is almost here so our regulatory approach needs to be as nimble as the industry we are seeking to regulate.

>> thank you for your communication and counsel. >> mr. colón is going to ask us questions and then i will move to recess the subcommittee until we have returned from the votes. you are recognized for five minutes. see this for the administrative law judge for the review despite the wishes of the president and i've long had serious concerns about this including the agreement used to try to hide the scope of the transaction that's why the ranking member and i wrote two weeks ago asking them to review how these affect diversity and competition. however, last night the president said and i quote it's unfair they wouldn't approve the sinclair broadcast merger this

would have been a great and much-needed conservative voice for and of the people liberals can fake news, nbc gets approved much bigger .-full-stop sinclair, disgraceful, "-end-double-quote. the only thing i find distasteful is that they try to undermine the integrity of dedicated journalists wildly simply trying to amplify his message at the expense of local news across the country. so what we just ask yes or no if i can ask you do you agree with the president, yes or no? >> i stand by our decision. >> i think the hearing designation orderlie order leave fact that the law as applied in our view. >> i do not agree. let me ask these questions and i know we only have three minutes or so, given the sinclair merger

will you commit to ensure a cona comprehensive and thorough review is conducted by this insulated from the president or anyone reporting to speak on his behalf, yes or no? >> we already issued the hearing designation order and my understanding is it is in the purview of the administrative law judge under our rule. >> but you will ensure that a thorough review is conducted? >> those are the issues that have been referred, yes. >> if anyone discusses or has discussed the merger with you or anyone at the fcc will you commit to disclosing that in the public docket yes or no? >> yes except we have the rules because this i is no way restricted proceedinnow a restrn what information we can put on the record. we would be happy to accommodate

to the extent that we can. >> the president cites the need for a conservative voice and that is what is disconcerting to me because i don't believe that they are supposed to make decisions based on what is conservative or liberal or democrat or republican. do they consider conservative or liberal viewpoints as part of the merger review in other words do you care what there is a conservative voice or not? >> i stick with the answer when i testified as a nominee for every transaction before me we will apply the law and reached a judgment that is in the public interest. >> i just hope we are not looking at this from an ideological point of view. the hearing designation order that was unanimously voted to approve the post they may have engaged in misrepresentations or lack of candor. whether a licensee is lying to

the commission i's allegation ty have had their licenses revoked for making misrepresentations began to you without commenting on the preceding will the commission conduct an inquiry into the lack of candor regarding the licenses they hold either now or at the time of the renewal yes or no? >> we've referred certain issues i can't comment under the advice of the general counsel on anything having to do with that in your question is inextricably linked to some of the issues. >> so the answer is no. >> would you like to add anything on that? >> we have raised issues about the candor of the company through the misrepresentations they made in the context of the transactions and i think those are serious issues of character

qualifications to the extent they've been identified as a problem here we should be open to investigation in other contexts as well. >> the gentleman yields back end of thinto the committee stands n recess.