House Appropriations Democrats Blast Pai on Sinclair at FCC Budget Hearing

House Appropriations Financial Services ranking member Mike Quigley, D-Ill., was by far Pai's most vocal critic during the hearing, focusing on recent media ownership actions. Moves seen as specifically benefitting Sinclair/Tribune, including restoration of the UHF discount and the ongoing national broadcast ownership cap proceeding, “raised troubling concerns that have yet to be cleared up,” Quigley said: They “call into question” FCC independence from Trump's administration, given Sinclair's perceived “close ties” to it. Even Sinclair's latest modifications to the Tribune deal, which specifies buyers for most the 23 stations it needs to divest (see 1804250077), “stretches the definition of divestiture” into “something unrecognizable,” Quigley said. He cited the sale of WGN-TV Chicago to a company controlled by Steven Fader, a business associate of Sinclair Executive Chairman David Smith.

Pai strongly denied he or his staff met with Sinclair to coordinate on the UHF discount restoration or other actions before the Tribune deal was announced. Sinclair and other media companies have been in contact generally in recent years about what they saw as a need to revamp media ownership rules, but their views are “consistent with the views I have long held,” Pai said. He denied having any contact with administration officials about Sinclair-related proceedings. Pai repeated his earlier assertion there's no need for him to recuse himself from considering Sinclair/Tribune even in the midst of an inspector general investigation into his actions on rulemakings that benefited Sinclair (see 1803210041).

Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and 21 other members of the Senate Democratic Caucus urged Pai Thursday to cease all media ownership-related proceedings until the FCC completes a review of the U.S. broadcast landscape and the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rules on the UHF discount restoration (see 1804200059). “Your ad hoc approach to media ownership must end,” the senators said in a letter to Pai. “When combined with the troubling trend by some broadcasters of using corporately-developed national news content as a substitute for local journalism, your recent actions risk making the 'local' in local broadcasting a thing of the past.” The agency didn't comment.

House Appropriations Financial Services Chairman Tom Graves, R-Ga., praised Pai's actions, citing his work to ensure the net neutrality rescission proceeding was a “very transparent, very open and very spirited process” given its “controversial” nature. Graves also cited Pai's interest in increasing rural broadband deployments. He also spent significant time on FCC plans for the incentive auction spectrum repacking process in light of Congress' allocation of an additional $1 billion to reimburse affected stations. Congress allocated the funding to be spread out over two years. Rep. Tom Moolenaar, R-Mich., focused on concerns about the Lifeline program and Pai's revamp plan. Rep. Kevin Yoder, R-Kan., highlighted commission work to revamp the rural healthcare USF program.

The FCC's FY 2019 budget request, which proposes maintaining its spending level at $333 million (see 1802120037), aims to “freeze” its staffing level at 1,448 full-time equivalents for regulatory fee offsetting collections and the spectrum auctions program, Pai said. “Further reductions in staffing would compromise the commission’s ability to accomplish its mission.” That freeze is “especially important” given the “additional responsibilities” Congress assigned the FCC via the omnibus, he said. The FCC-related sections of the omnibus require the FCC to “revise its application and regulatory fee schedules, amend its Caller ID spoofing rules, complete a proceeding on 911 call location accuracy, use the Connect2Health tool to create a map that overlays opioid drug abuse with the degree of broadband access in an area and coordinate with NTIA in its use of $7.5 million in infrastructure funds for broadband mapping.” The additional allocation to broadcasters of repack funding gives them access to 92.5 percent of their estimated repacking costs, Pai said.