Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise today, along with Senator Kaufman, to introduce legislation that puts a greater focus on efforts to improve the technical resources and decision-making process at the Federal Communications Commission. The bill proposes a study by the National Academy of Sciences on the technical policy decision-making process and the availability of technical personnel at FCC. Over the past several years, there have been concerns voiced by the technical community and even Commissioners themselves about the lack of technical resources and expertise at the Federal Communications Commission, FCC. It is for good reason: in 1948, the FCC had 720 engineers on staff; today, it has fewer than 300--an astonishing 62 percent reduction--even though the FCC now must face technical issues concerning the Internet, advanced wireless communications, and broadband. Also, FCC officials have recently acknowledged a shortage of network engineers and that a large number of experienced engineers are eligible to retire within the next few years. Yet, communications technologies are becoming increasingly complex-- evolving from the traditional circuit-switched phone networks to packet-based dynamic-routing high-bandwidth data networks. The need to thoroughly address these issues challenges staff and leads to delays or even inaction in technical rulemakings since the Commission doesn't have the appropriate resources for timely technical evaluation and decisionmaking.…”