I think we will go out and start. By Ranking Member senator could still be here shortly. I will go and make my Opening Statement and begin testimony. Thank you all for being here this afternoon. I appreciate it. Id like to thank you for your comments last week about what we need to strike. Today marks the first hearing in the Financial Services and general government to committee for the 115 congress. This is also my first hearing in a new role as chairwoman of the subcommittee. As they began the budget request, welcome our witnesses. Fcc chairman and commissioner clyburn and michael are rightly. We look forward to hearing from you all about the budget request and the work you are doing to carry out the agencys mission. Fiscal year 28 team, requesting a total of 322 million. While funding is offset by fees that do not minimize or need to ensure that the agency is operating effectively in the funds are being sent responsibly. This is especially important since these are passed on direct
Approvement act . And what other benefits are being experienced . Um as far as benefits of the Sandy Recovery reimprovement act is a very important tool and the other lesson that we have learned from is the events of katrina is that there are certain types of projects that are technically difficult that exceed the average capacity for people to manage and you need expert so we engage very early. And identify where the projects will be whether they are hospitals or other large public infrastructures. We brought in a lot of experts. It wasnt until you passed a Sandy Recovery improvement act that we had the resolution had we been using an old program and using actual costs, there would have been more uncertainty for the application cant on what they could and could not do. It would have been more overhead in making those decisions and they would not have had the ability to get what they were going to get from us and move forward. As it is we have obligated the majority of those funds. The
Concerning. As long as you give me the time back. I dont believe our discussion would welcome that opportunity. And on this piece, we leave that authority with the fcc. We dont do away with that here although it is absent in the bill, it is still resident. So that interconnection we would be happy to have. We also provided this about the Specialized Services and yet it doesnt allow the fcc to define what constitutes a specialized service. Can you envision this language being used by an isp to advantage one competitor over another and even they themselves providing Specialized Services that can comparing the marketplace . I think the lack of specificity could be paramount to discrimination and so yes. Certainly with respect to affiliated content, the Network Provider itself creates engagements and Specialized Services which look like as only a matter of ownership and we are very concerned. Thank you. I just want to add on to what we were saying with several news reports that Senior Exec
And how the world has changed but it is also the industries that have changed in the sense that this is a Corporate Structure that is out there now as well a lot of consolidation going on in Companies Getting into various areas of the business of at one point they are acting like a commentary, including a content provider and so forth. You mentioned the distinction between Information Services and Telecommunications Services in this law. Is that a meaningful distinction today . I think over time it should not be. We are entering a world in which a bid is a bed Data Networks follow radically different characteristics than the one that inform this written in the 30s or the 90s. Its one of the highly contentious issues related to ambiguity and its even more inapplicable to modern functions and modern networks and i think that we will be ironing out this governing body for years to come and how it is properly applied, networks that do not behave in the way that these are. You say in your t
Times the 1st resort for insurable property that was not insured and those losses again it is a decision that we have to look at how to best ensure communities are able to rebuild but at the same time dont support or continue growing the risk. We have to understand there is a a certain amount of risk out there. The exposure for just south florida for a repeat a repeat of the great Miami Hurricane would be in the hundreds of billions of dollars with federal cost exceeding both sandy and katrina. It is, i think something we need to look at. We have to make sure as we go in after a disaster they are setting the stage for the future. We continue to see new disaster aid programs emerge ad hoc in reaction to disasters. They all seem to have different rules and requirements and do not seem well coordinated all we are focused on obtaining the best outcomes. Is this Something Congress should take a look at so that we can streamline programs and ensure that they are Cost Effective . Mr. Chairman