Republicans question increased FCC regulations at hearing

The Federal Communications Commission and Congress went head-to-head on Tuesday morning as five FCC commissioners met for a hearing with the House Subcommittee on Energy and Communications and Technology.

While the hearing was originally supposed to focus on the FCC’s proposed budget for the coming fiscal years, issues of overregulation have taken center stage as House Republicans question whether the Democratic-majority FCC is overstepping its authority in a number of areas. While net neutrality has been firmly at the forefront, issues facing radio have never been entirely absent — including AI, EEO, and .

In her opening statement, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) didn’t mince her words: “The FCC is promulgating a regulation that would regulate the use of artificial intelligence in political ads — a task that is not within the commission’s purview and that has drawn condemnation from the Federal Election Commission, the independent agency that holds that authority.”

“This pattern of the FCC abusing its authority and ignoring congressional guidance is yet another example of the Biden administration’s efforts to assert greater federal control over Americans’ lives. This must end, and I look forward to the courts stepping in to overturn these unlawful power grabs.”

The FCC has taken an increasingly rigorous approach to tightening regulations across all of the divisions it oversees since reaching full capacity following the confirmation of Anna Gomez. This has included questioning the effectiveness of removing the Main Studio Rule, returning the FM duplicate rule and collecting Form 395-Bs, and potentially increasing ownership limits.

Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta (R-OH) added that it is time for the FCC to pursue a “light regulatory environment.”

Despite the initial barrage of criticism, Chairwoman Rosenworcel and Democratic members of the FCC used the opportunity to praise net neutrality and the importance of affordable internet for all in their opening statements and throughout the hearing.

During the hearing, FCC oversight came under renewed scrutiny in light of the Supreme Court’s rollback of the “Chevron rule,” a decades-long practice that allowed courts to defer to decisions by federal agencies like the FCC when interpreting ambiguous regulations, provided the agency’s interpretations were not arbitrary or capricious.

In his testimony before the committee, Republican FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr decried the “wish list of progressive policy goals” he saw the FCC pursuing on behalf of the Biden administration — including EEO reporting. Carr called for a refresh of enforcement procedures to keep the FCC within constitutional parameters under SCOTUS. SEC vs. Jarksey decision. The Supreme Court ruled that people accused of fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission have the right to a jury trial. The decision significantly limits the authority traditionally held by the agency’s Administrative Law Judges, which could have implications for future FCC actions.

In the future, entities will be able to challenge the FCC’s decisions in court, arguing against the need for an order scheduling a hearing based on this new precedent.

Toward the end of the hearing, Chairwoman Rosenworcel had the opportunity to defend her recent notice of proposed regulatory position regarding disclosure of the use of artificial intelligence in political ads broadcast through mass media, which put her at odds with the Republican Party and the Federal Election Commission.

“Congress gave us this power over broadcast, radio, satellite, and cable. That’s a significant portion of campaign advertising, and we’ve been using that power since 1938. So it’s a system that everybody’s been using for decades. Every campaign says when the ad aired, who paid for it, and on the air they say who’s responsible for it…We have these files for federal, state, local and other issues. In other words, it’s a much larger community than the one that the Federal Election Commission oversees.”

“When you think about AI and the confusion that’s involved and the complexity of these issues, asking for public comment on the transparency issue is a good thing,” said Chair Rosenworcel. “Let’s work together to make sure that happens. We want to make sure that happens in a way that completely solves the problem, so it cuts across all channels of communication and solves the problem comprehensively, in a way that doesn’t come down to different agencies arguing about does the FCC have the authority? Does the FEC? Did Congress delegate that authority? Let’s work together to solve the problem.”

But Commissioner Carr had the final word, saying, “This is not something we should be doing on the eve of an election. As you point out, it’s complicated. On one hand, you have fraudulent flaws, on the other hand, you have the use of GPT chat to run ad scripts. This is something that Congress is taking a serious look at. It’s complicated. We shouldn’t be doing this on the eve of an election.”