FCC Republicans revolt over being left out

The two Republicans on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) are accusing the agency’s chairman of refusing to let them have their say.

Commissioners Ajit Pai and Michael O’Rielly on Thurday issued statements protesting two actions by the agency’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau that they say should have come up for a vote before the full commission.

{mosads}“This is not how democracy works,” Pai said.

“Commissioner O’Rielly and I jointly requested that the items be brought before the commission for a simple up or down vote. … The chairman’s office refused.”

One of the two items released on Thursday is a comprehensive report on the marketplace for mobile wireless service. The other approves a request from T-Mobile to give extra guidance on rules for charging subscribers roaming fees.

Both were issued by the Wireless Bureau but ought to have been voted on by the FCC’s five commissioners, Pai and O’Rielly said.

“I strongly object to the continued effort to delegate decisionmaking authority to the bureaus,” said O’Rielly, who was unanimously confirmed by the Senate for a full term in office just this week. “I didn’t just go through the confirmation process in order to have bureaus and advisory committees make decisions that should be made by commissioners.”

The FCC has often been accused of being overly partisan, and many of its major issues end up as 3-2 votes with support from Democrats and opposition from Republicans.

The charge that commissioners are being totally cut out of the process will likely only inflame those accusations.

In his statement, Pai said that Chairman Tom Wheeler’s “antics” should give lawmakers on Capitol Hill extra incentive to reform the way the FCC works.

“I welcome and applaud the bipartisan congressional efforts to enact FCC process reform legislation,” he said. “ And I hope that the new year yields successful legislative efforts to ensure that we — plural — are an independent agency.”