House Communications Reschedules Postponed FCC Oversight Hearing

The House Communications Subcommittee rescheduled a postponed hearing on the FCC's FY 2025 budget request for Tuesday, the Commerce Committee said Tuesday. The subpanel previously planned the hearing for early May (see 2405030068). “The U.S. maintains some of the most preeminent broadband networks in the world,” said House Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R- Wash., and Communications Chair Bob Latta, R-Ohio. “This has resulted in lower costs and faster, more reliable services to Americans that have helped cement American innovation and leadership in next-generation technologies. Our networks have benefitted from a light-touch regulatory approach, which has allowed them to adapt and thrive. Unfortunately, recent actions by the FCC, including burdensome new regulations, threaten that light-touch system and people’s access to these critical services.” The House Appropriations Committee's FY 2025 funding bill for the FCC, which it advanced last month (see 2406140054), proposes increasing the commission's budget to $416 million but would bar the agency from using funds to enforce its net neutrality and digital discrimination orders.