FCC IG Nominee Faces Questions at Nomination Hearing
FCC Inspector General nominee Chase Johnson faced questions Wednesday during a Senate Commerce Committee nomination hearing. Jon Tester, D-Mont., asked why the FCC has taken no action after a staff investigation of Mobility Fund-II coverage maps found the maps provided by carriers didn't match actual 4G LTE coverage (see 1912040027). During a markup, some bills were OK'd.
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“The companies overstated their coverage, there’s no doubt," Tester said. “What are you going to do? … Is this going to be a high priority?” Johnson didn't know the IG’s office position on MF-II. “It’s something that the IG’s office needs to understand and needs to understand the data and the decisions,” he said.
The FCC IG “is an important position, you know that,” Tester said, “You have to be independent. You have to be free to do what you need to do to hold people accountable.” Tester noted Johnson never been an IG. “The hardest part of the job is … prioritizing investigations,” Johnson replied. The FCC is “an agency with a lot of programs and expending a lot of dollars in order to provide broadband” connections.
If he's doing his job “right,” an IG's relations with Chairman Ajit Pai and others “could potentially get tense,” Tester told Johnson. “If it gets tense, what are you going to do?”
“You do work that is unimpeachable, where the facts and the data and the conclusions are so tight that there’s no personal animus,” Johnson said. “Beyond that, if there’s friction because of the results of those reports, that’s not my concern.”
Tester said he will likely vote to confirm Johnson. “If things are going bad, we need to know about it,” he said.
Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., asked Johnson about his familiarity with past problems with USF waste, fraud and abuse and “the FCC’s efforts to crackdown on the manipulation” of such programs. “I understand that it’s critical that with the amount of money and the importance of those projects that fraud, waste and abuse be ferreted out,” Johnson said. He said he doesn’t know the specifics because they’re not public.
Fischer asked how Johnson would avoid redundancy in investigations. The IG must collect information “understanding the nature of the investigation before you start it and doing careful planning about what it would entail,” he said. Johnson would rely on experience of the IG’s office and be willing to communicate with other offices at the FCC, other IGs and DOJ.
The FCC “is an important agency and its importance is probably as high today as it’s ever been in a 5G world,” Johnson said. The IG needs to prepare reports that are understandable to taxpayers, as well as those with more technical knowledge, he said.
The committee also held a hearing on Finch Fulton, nominee for assistant secretary-transportation policy. He would have oversight over areas including positive train control, drones and automated vehicles. Neil Jacobs is up to be NOAA administrator.
The Transportation Department must prioritize safety in everything it does, Finch said: “Technology holds great potential to improve the safety, efficiency and the economic impact of our transportation system, but it is not a silver bullet.” New developments including automated vehicles and drones may lead to a “dramatic” change in how goods are moved, he said.
The committee marked up five bills Wednesday, including the Advancing Critical Connectivity Expands Service, Small Business Resources, Opportunities, Access and Data Based on Assessed Need and Demand (Access Broadband) Act. S-1046 and House-passed companion HR-1328 would establish the Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth within NTIA (see 1904050059). S-3132 would extend the 2006 Undertaking Spam, Spyware, And Fraud Enforcement With Enforcers beyond Borders (U.S. Safe Web) Act through Sept. 30, 2027. The Industries of the Future Act (S-3191) would create the Industries of the Future Coordination Council to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said S-3191 is important in her state, which is using innovation to fight the coronavirus. “The coronavirus is also a very strong learning lesson for us as it relates to the gaps in broadband,” she said. Many events were canceled due to the virus (see 2003110036).
The Access Broadband Act was passed with an amendment by Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo. The Industries of the Future Act was OK'd, with a Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla. amendment. The bills were approved by voice vote.