FCC chief, Congress, look to restructure agency

Even though Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell has announced his intention to revamp and streamline the agency, congressional critics still plan to forge ahead with legislation to substantially reform it.

In his first press briefing as chief of the powerful telecommunications body, Powell said he intended to restructure the FCC to make it "efficient, well-managed, thoughtful and decisive," and more responsive to markets.

"Our first reaction would be 'God bless him,'" said Ken Johnson, spokesman for House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin, R-LA, an outspoken critic of the FCC. "But our second reaction would be, 'What the Lord giveth, the Lord can taketh away.' "

Powell has the statutory authority to overhaul the agency, and outgoing Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth said those organizational issues should be left to the chairman. "I don't think it is a particularly good use of congressional time to worry about the organizational structure of the agency."

Furchtgott-Roth has been highly critical of the FCC's involvement in merger reviews and of what he says is the agency's lengthy decision-making process. Because of the way the FCC has operated in the past, it has made itself "an equal-opportunity target of attack from Capitol Hill," he said.

Powell agrees with some of Furchtgott-Roth's criticism. Powell has said he wants to expedite the agency's decision-making process and review its structure to ensure that it adequately reflects the current delivery of telecommunications services. The agency currently is divided into seven bureaus, each of which is charged with overseeing a set group of technologies.

During the first meeting over which Powell will preside, he has asked each bureau to report on their management procedures and regulatory issues.

But lawmakers are not waiting for the FCC to address changes internally. Last Wednesday, for instance, Rep. Paul Gillmor, R-Ohio, reintroduced a bill, H.R. 646, that would establish a commission to study the FCC's structure. The commission would be charged with determining whether the FCC should be changed to reflect the current state of telecommunications, including the rise of the Internet, and whether there should be fewer commissioners.

The fact that Powell shares Congress' goals "presents the opportunity for the Congress and the administration to work hand in hand on comprehensive reform," said Mike Waldron, spokesman for Rep. Fred Upton, R-MI, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Telecommunications and Internet Subcommittee.

And a spokeswoman for Democratic staff on the subcommittee said Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., would be willing to wait and see if Powell needed legislation to help him with his efforts. "Powell can do a lot to reform the agency from within," she said. "If he has the impetus to do this, then I see no reason why he can't."

Furchtgott-Roth agreed that having the "right person in place" should be at the heart of reform efforts rather than placing "in statute highly prescriptive rules about how this place operates." But that is just the problem, according to Johnson.

"Just because Powell wants to change doesn't meant that some more liberal-minded chairman in the future would not return the FCC to its bad old ways," he said.