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Nomination of Hon. Jessica Rosenworcel to Be Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission

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Nomination of Hon. Jessica Rosenworcel to Be Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission S. HRG. 114–228 NOMINATION OF HON. JESSICA ROSENWORCEL TO BE COMMISSIONER OF THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION OCTOBER 28, 2015 Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 99–712 PDF WASHINGTON : 2016 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Nov 24 2008 13:09 Apr 12, 2016 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 S:\GPO\DOCS\99712.TXT JACKIE SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION JOHN THUNE, South Dakota, Chairman ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi BILL NELSON, Florida, Ranking ROY BLUNT, Missouri MARIA CANTWELL, Washington MARCO RUBIO, Florida CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri KELLY AYOTTE, New Hampshire AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota TED CRUZ, Texas RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut DEB FISCHER, Nebraska BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii JERRY MORAN, Kansas EDWARD MARKEY, Massachusetts DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska CORY BOOKER, New Jersey RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin TOM UDALL, New Mexico DEAN HELLER, Nevada JOE MANCHIN III, West Virginia CORY GARDNER, Colorado GARY PETERS, Michigan STEVE DAINES, Montana DAVID SCHWIETERT, Staff Director NICK ROSSI, Deputy Staff Director REBECCA SEIDEL, General Counsel JASON VAN BEEK, Deputy General Counsel KIM LIPSKY, Democratic Staff Director CHRIS DAY, Democratic Deputy Staff Director CLINT ODOM, Democratic General Counsel and Policy Director (II) VerDate Nov 24 2008 13:09 Apr 12, 2016 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\99712.TXT JACKIE C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on October 28, 2015 .......................................................................... 1 Statement of Senator Thune ................................................................................... 1 Statement of Senator Schatz .................................................................................. 2 Statement of Senator Blumenthal .......................................................................... 3 Statement of Senator Wicker .................................................................................. 17 Statement of Senator Markey ................................................................................. 19 Statement of Senator Blunt .................................................................................... 20 Statement of Senator Ayotte ................................................................................... 22 Statement of Senator Fischer ................................................................................. 24 Statement of Senator Daines .................................................................................. 25 Statement of Senator McCaskill ............................................................................. 28 Statement of Senator Booker .................................................................................. 31 Statement of Senator Heller ................................................................................... 33 Statement of Senator Klobuchar ............................................................................ 36 Statement of Senator Moran .................................................................................. 38 Statement of Senator Peters ................................................................................... 41 Statement of Senator Nelson .................................................................................. 43 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 43 Letter dated October 28, 2015 to Hon. John Thune and Hon. Bill Nelson from Maya Wiley, Counsel to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio ......... 44 WITNESSES Hon. Jessica Rosenworcel, Commissioner, Federal Communications Commis- sion ........................................................................................................................ 4 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 5 Biographical information ................................................................................. 6 APPENDIX Hon. Tom Udall, U.S. Senator from New Mexico, prepared statement .............. 49 Response to written questions submitted to Hon. Jessica Rosenworcel by: Hon. John Thune .............................................................................................. 49 Hon. Deb Fischer .............................................................................................. 50 Hon. Jerry Moran ............................................................................................. 51 Hon. Dan Sullivan ............................................................................................ 52 Hon. Cory Booker ............................................................................................. 53 Hon. Tom Udall ................................................................................................ 55 (III) VerDate Nov 24 2008 13:09 Apr 12, 2016 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\99712.TXT JACKIE VerDate Nov 24 2008 13:09 Apr 12, 2016 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\99712.TXT JACKIE NOMINATION OF HON. JESSICA ROSENWORCEL TO BE COMMISSIONER OF THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2015, U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION, Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:01 a.m., in room SR–253, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. John Thune, Chair- man of the Committee, presiding. Present: Senators Thune [presiding], Wicker, Blunt, Ayotte, Fischer, Moran, Heller, Daines, Nelson, Cantwell, McCaskill, Klobuchar, Blumenthal, Schatz, Markey, Booker, Udall, Manchin, and Peters. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN THUNE, U.S. SENATOR FROM SOUTH DAKOTA The CHAIRMAN. This nomination hearing will come to order. Today, we welcome Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel to testify before the Committee as we consider her nomination to serve a sec- ond term at the Federal Communications Commission. Today’s appearance by Commissioner Rosenworcel marks the third time she has testified before the Committee this year, and I know the Committee appreciates her willingness to come up to the Hill to answer questions on a variety of issues before the Commis- sion. Commissioner Rosenworcel has been serving as a Commissioner at the FCC since May 2012, and, before that, she served as a senior staffer on this committee for both Chairman Rockefeller and Chair- man Inouye. So she is a well-known individual to many of us on this committee. Every single American relies in some part on the nation’s vast communications system, and this system binds together our 21st century society. Congress has charged the FCC with regulating interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable. Moreover, the mandate of the FCC under the Communications Act is to make available to all Americans a rapid, efficient, nationwide, and worldwide wire and radio commu- nications service. Our communications system is absolutely vital to the nation’s economy, so it is critically important that those who lead the FCC do so by exercising regulatory humility, promoting economic (1) VerDate Nov 24 2008 13:09 Apr 12, 2016 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\GPO\DOCS\99712.TXT JACKIE 2 growth, trusting technological innovation, and working within the framework provided by Congress to make world-class communica- tions available to all Americans in both rural and urban areas. Commissioner Rosenworcel has served during an eventful period at the Commission. Perhaps most significantly, the FCC voted along party lines to burden the Internet with Title II common car- rier regulation in February of this year, one of the most polarizing and partisan decisions in the agency’s history. As I said at the time, the tech and telecom industries agree on few regulatory matters, but there was one idea that unified them for two decades, and that was that the Internet is not the tele- phone network, and one cannot apply the old rules of telecom to the new world of the Internet. I believe there should be clear rules for the digital road, with clear authority for the FCC to enforce them. And that is why I sought and am still seeking to work with my colleagues on a bipar- tisan basis to find consensus on a legislative solution to preserve the Open Internet. And I will be asking Commissioner Rosenworcel about this path forward. Another important issue that I want to bring up today is about an anomaly in the Universal Service Fund rules that Commissioner Rosenworcel and her four colleagues on the Commission made a commitment to me in March to fix by the end of this year. This anomaly requires a rural consumer to buy voice service from a small rural telephone company in order for that carrier to be eligi- ble for USF support. I led a letter earlier this year, along with Senator Klobuchar and 65 additional senators, calling on the FCC to make this fix. It is now October 28, and I hope that Commissioner Rosenworcel can provide an update on the progress of the FCC in satisfying the commitment that she and her colleagues
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