{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://doyle.house.gov/press-release/doyle-condemns-pai-fcc-%E2%80%9Cprofoundly-negative-effect-our-country%E2%80%9D", "Doyle Condemns Pai FCC for Profoundly Negative Effect on Our Country", "2017-10-25", "2017", "2017-10", "Democrat", "House", "PA", "Mike Doyle", "D000482", "doyle.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, DC \u2013 Congressman Doyle (D-PA-14) made the following statement earlier today at the House Energy and Commerce Committee\u2019s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology\u2019s oversight hearing on the Federal Communications Commission.\u00a0\n\u00a0\n\u201cFirst, thank you Madam Chairman for holding this hearing, and thank you to the witnesses for appearing before us today. Let me just say that I really enjoy our time together here, as I\u2019m sure all of you do, and would encourage the Chairman to hold these get-togethers far more often.\u00a0\n\u00a0\n\u201cCommissioner Rosenworcel, welcome back. Your work on the Homework Gap has been missed. Commissioner Carr, congratulations on your confirmation. I hope that as you establish your agenda you remember that the guiding principle of the FCC is to act in the public interest. It is standard that I will hold you to as well.\u00a0\u00a0\n\u00a0\n\u201cChairman Pai, many people around the country including myself and many of colleagues are deeply alarmed by your response to President Trump\u2019s threats against the media, and specifically his tweet threatening NBC. In 2014, you wrote in the Wall Street Journal that \u2018the government has no place pressuring media organizations into covering certain stories.\u2019 You took six days to respond to the President\u2019s tweet, and when you did you did not directly address the President\u2019s threat at all or its chilling effects on the media.\n\u00a0\n\u201cWhile the President and the Administration can dispute the veracity of any story, even ones that are demonstrably true, they cannot attack the free institutions that enable our democracy. As Senator Flake said yesterday, \u2018it is time for our complicity and our accommodation of the unacceptable to end.\u2019\n\u00a0\n\u201cBesides this issue, the Commission\u2019s agenda under your leadership has already had a profoundly negative effect on our country. From increasing costs on small businesses to driving up the cost of calls to family members in prison and claiming that wireless broadband is competitive even when people in rural American know it\u2019s not, it seems that at every fork in the road you have chosen the path that leads to higher consumer costs, fewer choices, and less innovation.\u00a0\n\u00a0\n\u201cAnd it sounds as if the worst is yet to come. News reports suggest that you will unveil plans tomorrow to vastly alter the media landscape in this country, clearing the way for more media consolidation, including the Sinclair-Tribune merger.\u00a0\u00a0\n\u00a0\n\u201cYesterday the Commission eliminated the main studio rule that had ensured for 77 years that local news was gathered and reported locally. What good would a studio and reporters in New York have done for broadcast stations in Houston or Florida after the hurricanes? What good is the local news if it isn\u2019t local?\u00a0 \u00a0\n\u00a0\n\u201cOther news reports suggest you will announce an order to repeal the FCC\u2019s Open Internet Order around Thanksgiving. Madam Chairman, I sincerely hope, if that is true, that this Committee has a chance to talk to the Commission in advance of a vote on that order. The idea that such a significant order that would affect so much of our economy would be voted on without oversight is unconscionable, and would be a dereliction of this Committee\u2019s duties. If the Chairman is intent to act, I believe that his actions should be done under the scrutiny of Congress and in the light of the public.\u201d\n\u00a0\nClick here for a link to a video of the hearing.\n\u00a0\nAttached is a copy of Commissioner O\u2019Rielly\u2019s response to a Question for the Record from Congressman Doyle. This response was the subject of Congressman Doyle\u2019s line of questioning.\n\u00a0\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://doyle.house.gov/press-release/doyle-condemns-pai-fcc-%E2%80%9Cprofoundly-negative-effect-our-country%E2%80%9D"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.6455651018768549, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}