This past Monday, Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) attended a field hearing on regulatory impediments to job creation in the high technology field. The AmericanJobCreators.com hearing included top tech firms like Microsoft and Google.
During questions time after the event Issa was asked if Congress would find it to be a good idea to have the FCC conduct a spectrum auction. Issa responded, “Until Net Neutrality is rolled back, I don’t believe the Congress is going to be too happy to give the FCC any new power when they’ve abused a power they didn’t have.”
Issa made it clear that Congress was in disapproval of the rash action of the FCC. Late last year over 300 members of Congress signed letters of objection to FCC Open Internet rules.
The Congressman added that , “Congress disapproved of [the FCC’s] decision. At least at the House,” referring to the passage of a Joint Resolution of Disapproval earlier this month using the Congressional Review Act in an attempt to roll back the FCC’s December regulatory move. “And I personally believe [the FCC] didn’t have that authority and they administratively got that which they couldn’t get legislatively,” Issa concluded.
Issa also noted on his Twitter feed after the job creation hearing that, “We heard where gov’t regs help, and where red tape costs jobs.” As well as, “We heard it straight: there are gov’t barriers to high tech jobs.” It is not confirmed if Issa’s Twitter remarks were focused on that of Net Neutrality regulation. But concerns with Open Internet regulation harming the technology sector job market, investment, and growth has been an argument made by many in the policy field.
In follow up with Issa’s press staff, his office was asked for comment on whether the Congressman felt that the FCC’s Open Internet rules showed the agency to be incompetent of the task of the spectrum auction and also if that power was stripped from the FCC, who would be given authority to conduct those duties. However, Mr. Issa’s office had no further comment on the matter at this time.