Chairwoman blackburn, what are some of your priorities this year . Oh, we have plenty of priorities. Were looking forward to doing some Good Housekeeping work, if you will, cleaning up at f. C. C. And ntia. Those two agencies also have to go through a reauthorization. F. C. C. Has not been reauthorized since 1990 and ntia since 92. So we are looking forward to moving forward with that. You know, we appropriate in the federal budget every year there are 310 billion dollars that re appropriated over 200 agencies that have not been reauthorized. So thats kind of item number one making certain that we do that. And within that as youre doing reauthorization it is an opportunity to revisit the structure of those agencies. Times have changed since 1990 or 1992. It is time to revisit what those agencies spend their time on. I would say also to make certain that they are focused on their Core Missions and that theyre paying attention to those Core Missions. You know when you go that period of time and you dont have reauthorizations, it is easy to kind of get off script and get away from what is mission critical. So just Good Government. Lets go back in, do that revisit, make certain that if it needs to be rightsized its rightsized. If emphasis needs to be shifted within the agencies we will do that. So well spend some time there and then well do some work on encryption and cyber security. Leonard lance who serves as vice chair is going to lead the efforts on our behalf when it comes to encryption and cyber security, and then my favorite expanding broadband. Rural broadband and expanding this out. Making certain that we address what i view as having been an opportunity gap. Communities that do not have broadband. Then theyre not able to go in and expand Educational Opportunities for their students. Heyre not able to utilize telemedicine and health care information. Theyre not able to recruit new factories that can bring jobs to those underserved areas. Expansion. A pretty k thats good agenda for a year. Im looking forward to it. Im already at work on it. You are. In fact, youve held a hearing already on a pretty good agenda for a year. Im looking forward to ntia. What did you learn from that . What we learned is talking to different administrators people that are former administrators. They came in and said the agency needs to be focus ond helping the federal government with their utilization of spectrum. And how they go about using that spectrum. They need to concern themselves with siding of towers and the way we deploy broadband and expand broadband. And they made a couple of points i thought that were really important. Not all of it is going to be wireless. And while we think in terms of looking at wire line and the issues that come with wireline when its pole attachments and things of that nature that we need to think in terms of wireless also and the coverage that you can get. And especially as you think about the five g and that component moving to commercialization. So they were very, very helpful. And i appreciated the fact that t was good bipartisan hearing. There was great conversation between the former administrators that theyre bipartisan sitting before us and there was a tremendous amount of agreement about the reauthorization needed to take place, the budget. They did a good review, realignment and focusing on purpose with something that needed to happen and broadband should be an emphasis. Joining our conversation today is john hindle of communications daily. In terms of reauthorization, how quickly would you be hoping to kind of move to drafting legislation . With reauthorizing the agencies, i hope that over the next six months you will see us moving forward with ntia and f. C. C. To get this process started and to get the dialogue started. I hope that were well on our way by the time we break for the august recess i hope we are well on our way to getting this done. Reauthorizing these federal agencies and making certain that they are rightsized, that they are focused on their mission. I view this as being step number one. And whether it is ntia or f. C. C. , my hope is that we can push it forward sooner rather than letting it languish and doing it later. In the case of ntia would you want a new administrator in place . How does that kind of come into play . I think we have input that is that we have needed. I think that the house and the senate had kind of a group of issues. There are people that have worked with the ntia. It is housed in the commerce department, that we can move forward and now, i would love for the senate to move forward and to take more than one vote a day and get this cabinet confirmed so that we do have a secretary of commerce and the secretary of commerce can go ahead and name the deputies and unders and assistance and Division Heads that are within their jurisdiction. I think that would be a very positive step. So yes we would like to have someone named it does not forestall us from taking action by there not being someone named. In your years of serving and serving on the committee, what have been your observations about the f. C. C. And how you might like to see it reorganized . I would like to see more attention paid to Spectrum Management. And heres the reason why. I feeling like sometimes an auction takes place and then its like, ok, thats off the to do list. Theres not as much attention to managing that spectrum and then looking at new ways to pack in utilizations on that spectrum. This is one of the reasons ntia and their association with the f. C. C. Is important and our relationship house and senate with them is important. Think about the internet of things. Think about by the time we get to 2020 and jonathan what is it 3 billion devices that were going to have that are connected to the internet . And you just think about that utilization. How important Spectrum Management is. In order for everybody in the entire it ties in with broadband deployment. How are you going to use telemedicine concepts if you dont have the broadband and youve got to have the spectrum to do this how do you utilize increased Educational Opportunities and video classrooms and Remote Monitoring if you dont have it . So it opens up it kind of brings the world in to you and my hope is that were going to see the f. C. C. Look at that i do think also that as we reauthorize them it is time for the f. C. C. To look at their structure. Weve got a hiring freeze that is in place. It makes sense to go ahead and do that. Where are needs not being met . Over the past 20 years how has how have the needs for interfacing with the f. C. C. Changed . I would like to see a revitalization of the regional offices for the f. C. C. So that if someone has a problem theyre not finding themselves having to call washington, d. C. And wait for somebody to get around to calling them back and then waiting longer for somebody to get out to them. And i think convenience of working with the federal agency having those regional offices operational is important. Whats your relationship . I really appreciate chairman pye. I appreciate his willingness to work with congress. I have had a good working relationship with him through the years. I think he is very diligent. I have appreciated the way he is not a fan of Net Neutrality nor am i. He is not a fan of the title 2 reclassification nor am i. So i think im going to get along just fine with chairman pye. Speaking of Net Neutrality do you think that should be something that congress deals with or chairman pye . U you know, i think it can be kind of a onetwo process. There can be an extraction or a rescinding. That is something certainly that they could do. I think that congress may want on ome in and be specific with hings with dealing how broadband is approached. I think that most people agree the internet is not broken. It does not need the f. C. C. To manage it. The f. C. C. Does not need necessarily to precede the isp. In the governance of those networks. The f. C. C. Does not need the ability to set priority and value to content. Innovators that do not need to go file with the f. C. C. Before they innovate an attachment to the internet. We all want to make certain that the internet is a free and open source. I think part of that really when you look at it kind of ties back to that original concept when they were developing the internet. For computers, four separate locations, a team around each of them. Everything was open sourced. It was for information transfer. And i think the reclassification on putting it in title 2 is something that just was not you hope to get the draft legislation former communications of chairman greg walden and now full chairman walden . What i would like to do is see where the f. C. C. Thinks that they can get with us. Of course im not a fan of paid prioritization. I dont think that we need to go in and legislate on that. I think thats something for entities to negotiate when they are constructing a deal between two business entities. So you want to wait then at least a few months . I would like for the f. C. C. Im looking forward to working with the chairman and with the administration. So and im a big believer in orderly process. So lets get all the players in place and see what theyre going to do and then legislatively what is necessary for us to do to make certain that you do have Internet Freedom as something that i want to let that process well take those steps as they come along. You talked about orderly process and getting the players in place. The f. C. C. Is short two commissioners right now. They are. Does that hurt it . They are short. I think that commissioners oh riley and clyburn are very skillful. The f. C. C. Is moving forward with process reform while they wait for the commission to be filled out. They have moved forward on some process reforms on a bipartisan basis and i applaud them. Theyre not sitting around waiting. Not using it as an excuse to say were not fully filled out. They kind of have gotten to work and i have enjoyed with commissioner clyburp ive enjoyed working with her on different issues and i look forward to continuing to do that. I think she has been a good oice commissioner oy riley likewise i have certainly enjoyed getting to work with him. As somebody who worked on the Trump Transition Team on these issues will you have any input into who the third republican commissioner may be . I have not been asked for my opinion on that. But if they want to weigh in im sure i would have some thoughts. Well, how soon do you think you might get chairman pye in front of the subcommittee for an oversight hearing . We are hopeful that we can begin hearing from the f. C. C. In february and have the commissioners before us in march. We would like to do that get their thoughts on what theyre thinking about doing. I think the good thing is were talking with our colleagues in the senate on a regular basis. We are working with the commission talking with them on a regular basis. Chairman pye was up this week to meet with some of us. And i think that is healthy for the process, in my opinion its healthy that things are going to get done and were not going to let the agenda languish. And chairman pye is going to bring forward regularly process changes for the f. C. C. Its good to modernize that agency. It is good to avail themselves of technology to look for efficiency to be more effective. And im glad that theyre not waiting around. Theyre moving forward. Chairman, your counterpart in the senate, senator wicker and your Ranking Member mike doyle democrat of pennsylvania. Whats your working relationship with those gentlemen . With roger wicker i have known him for years. He and i have talked. And im looking forward to moving legislation with him. Congressman doyle and i of course have known each other from the committee and were looking forward to sitting down together in the next week or so and talking about whats going to be on the agenda hearings that are going to come up. My hope is that our hearings are going to be as productive as the ntia hearing was next week. There was one concern that did come up which was the f. C. C. s privacy rules. Theres been some debate now about whether the Congressional Review Act should be used or not. I know congress has begun looking at those. I want to get your sense of whether you support using the Congressional Review Act. I know you had a lot of year as those rules were kind of coming in to being. Yes. I did and still do. We are talking and working with the senate on this trying to see if using this i think using the cra is fine. That that would be the most expeedyent way to address the concerns we are working with the senate to make certain that we can do that. And hopefully next week when we come back on monday well have a resolution to it. Would you be filing that or would that be potentially another member of the house . Were going to work with the senate and see how we proceed on that. Some have questioned whether there might be any gap in terms of privacy oversight. Given the f. C. C. Still has the common carrier exemption and the f. C. C. Has not undone reclassification of broadband a common carrier service. I would think there would be a way to work through that so that you dont have a gap in oversight. And getting the process started if we go the cra route, making certain that we are doing it and handling it appropriately is what my first concern would be. And then to make certain that we have worked with the f. C. C. And then the f. C. C. Which by the way that is who has always had oversight of privacy that there is the appropriate transfer of that responsibility. In your view, has the f. C. C. Overstepped its boundaries in the last eight years . I think it has. I think theyve gotten outside of their core mission, if youd like to call it that. The Net Neutrality order, the reclassification, getting into privacy which has been the jurisdiction of the ftc. They have the historical knowledge and the expertise to handle privacy issues. And i believe putting it there is the way to go. Of course, peter welch and i cochaired together the privacy working group. We had Data Security legislation ready to move forward and at the last minute a Democrat Members of the committee pulled off the legislation. I hoped to have something that can move forward with the encouraged if we were able to move privacy Data Security legislation pieces. That does not come under that. That comes under Digital Commerce and consumer protection. That specific component of it would. But i would like that and then i would like to see us come to a resolution on some things with encryption and with cyber. What are your thoughts when it comes to encryption right now . Weve yet to look at both encryption of the data and encryption of the devices. We dont want the devices to be weakened, working with Law Enforcement and with a different intel agencies we have to come to some kind of understanding of what this is going to be. I cant tell you that we have an answer. Working on the encryption and cyber issue is a lot Like Fighting a forest fire. You get something put out in one place and its going to pop up in another. We realize that. Its going to take some conversations. It says that we are doing something that addresses the issue but doing something that is not necessarily technology specific. Because you have new generations of technology that come about, say, every 15 months and congress does not work at that kind of pace. So before the ink is dry on something, the technology would be outdated. So i think its important that things not be Delivery System or technology specific. Giving you an answer of exactly what it would be i dont know. I think thats what some thoughtful conversations and approaching it to say how do we best help. We know heres the goal over here. We want people to know their data is safe. We want them to know that in the virtual space their virtual view as i call it is safe and secure. We know that when you have a device that you want to know that that device is cant be broken in to and your information lifted. At the same time, we have to find a way to work with Law Enforcement on this. So the data they need is data that they can have access to. It is going to also stem over into the internet of things with systems in home, systems that record conversations or log conversations or home operating systems. And so i think this is going to take us a little while to work through but lets do it right. You know, lets not do something that would be a reaction that would get us going down the wrong track. So i look forward to beginning those conversations. Its going to take diligence doing the Due Diligence is going to be a part of the heavy lift. I am thrilled that Leonard Lance is going to be the one who is leading our efforts on this and working with full Committee Staff and with our subCommittee Staff, and in the areas where there may be shared jurisdictions. As you well know, congresswoman, the Tech Community in general supported Hillary Clinton and the democrats. Whats your message to Silicon Valley . My message to Silicon Valley is i hope they are going as they have, theyve been to meet with President Trump twice. I think that i think that their position on some of the issues theyre going to the see that mr. Trump understands technology and the system that revolves around technologybased products. The creation of those, the sale of those, those that are involved in trade components that are involved in trade. I think he also understands the need for a welltrained workforce. I do believe that when will bur ross is confirmed as secretary of commerce youre going to see someone there who is going to say these are the goals i want to help our nation achieve and technology is a big part of that. The innovation that you are driving is a big part of that. So how do we Work Together for the good of the country . And i think the Tech Community is going to end up being very pleased with that. They should not think that theyre dealing with a house or a senate or an administration that is technology averse, because indeed were not. I look forward to working with them. You know, theres another component too that i think is going to be an element of change for those in the tech sphere. You have Delivery Systems like as an nd then Amazon Online retailer and Distribution System that are beginning to create original content. As you know, with all of the content creators that are in my district in tennessee, i have found it really interesting that now tech which is generally been on one side of the issue and content creation on the other those are beginning to look for ways that hey can find some shared goals and i think the administration is going to be helpful to that process. Given all those changes, to what degree might there need to be a greater revisitting of the telecom act at this point . It has been 1r years i believe this week since thats happened. You did your homework. Youre exactly right. And there are things that of urse are going to need to be revisited. The telecom act doing a rewrite. Yes, indeed. I dont know if weve got enough band width, if you will, to do it this year. That might be something there for next year. It is on the todo list. To look at the media ownership rule theres things that probably could use a little revisit and review. We look forward to doing that. And as time allows and the faster we can move through things like reauthorizations and the House Keeping components and get a broadband Expansion Plan in place, the better the sooner well be able to get to a telecom rewrite. In terms of broadband expansion what are some of the next steps for that given obviously President Trump had talked about a bigger infrastructure package that could come together. How do you see the subcommittees role in terms of helping out with the brondband components of that . And i think the administrations going to have some things f. C. C. Will and of course the house will. And what we will do is to pull it all in. Give it all a good review. Make certain that it is meeting the needs of communities, that areas that are really underserved are going to be able to actively participate and expanding in their areas. We know youve got electric coops and groops that want to help with increasing Broadband Access and utilization. The house is going to do its Due Diligence. Well ask the right questions. Well make certain that this is something that is fiscally responsible. Well make certain that cost benefit analysis is applied to this. And that it is something that is going to be kind of a net gain for the American People and not something that is going to be a source of frustration with attention paid to the broadband expansion but yet the attention never comes to their area. I have 19 counties, 16 are rural counties. Broadband expansion is a big deal. Ive been working for the past few months getting broadband Rural Broadband seminar with different options and components, getting it pulled together. And were looking forward to doing that later this month. And bringing in some of my county mayors and Economic Development directors and talking about where there are opportunities for them. Finally, chairman plaqueburn, just to go back to what john asked you about a new telecom act. Do you really think sms something that could begin next year . I do. I think that it is something that the amount of time that has lapsed, it is just Good Government to go in and review different pieces. Just as it is a necessity for congress to do the lift of reauthorizing these agencies and modernizing these agencies, and one of the things that the American People on a bipartisan basis on a bipartisan basis went to see is a more responsive government. They want it to be an effective government. They wanted to be costeffective. They want it to be efficient. They want to utilize current technologies. They want it to be modernized. We have heard that repeatedly. Thats why i think the reauthorization process is the place to start. Agencies, if we do that in two years, we will be it and called with it progress. Representative Marsha Blackburn is the chair of the subcommittee on comedic haitians and technology. Communications and technology. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2017] in 1970 nine, cspan was created as a Public Service by Cable Companies and is brought to you today by your cable or some provider. Satellite provider. The senate is back in session monday and resumes debate on uchin as treasury secretary. After that, there will be a vote on David Shelton as the a secretary. Vote for Linda Mcmahon as Small Business administrator. The session is live on cspan two areas coming up thursday, the hearing for President Trumps labor secretary nominee. Committee labor hearing begins at 10 00 a. M. Eastern. We will have live coverage on cspan3. You can also watch on cspan. Org or listen on the cspan radio app. Now, West Virginia governor jim justice delivers his first state of the state address to a joint meeting of the state legislature in charleston. 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