Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) doesn't mess around. He currently chairs the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and he's gearing up for a full-scale FCC hearing on February 15. He has already issued a string of pointed questions to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin that make one thing clear: Martin should not expect a rosy reception.
The pre-hearing questions are direct; the first one jumps right into the NSA wiretapping controversy, asking whether the FCC plans to investigate the actions of the public companies involved. The five commissioners have already responded to these pre-hearing questions; Martin's answer (PDF) to this first one is a resounding "no."
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The third question hammered away at US broadband policy, asking how the FCC hopes to improve the high-speed situation. Martin's response talks about how much the market has grown and how wonderful the current state of US broadband is. He pointed out that broadband lines have increased 52 percent in the last year. Commissioner Adelstein, one of the two Democrats on the Commission, differed from this rosy assessment (PDF).
"Virtually every other advanced country has implemented a national broadband strategy," he said in response to the same question. "Each year, we slip further down the regular rankings of broadband penetration. More troubling, there is growing evidence that citizens of other countries are getting a much greater broadband value, in the form of more megabits for less money. According to the ITU, the digital opportunity afforded to U.S. citizens is not even near the top; it's 21st in the world.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070213-8835.htmlSo many problems so little time...
But at least the dems can walk chew gum and kick thier bum all at the same time....
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