Political Quotes

“The Auction Reform Act of 2002 will eliminate the statutory deadlines that have prompted the FCC to schedule auctions in June for spectrum in the 700 megahertz band currently occupied by television broadcasters. This legislation should not be necessary to stop the FCC from conducting the auctions in June. The FCC currently has the authority to delay these auctions and should do so on its own, many of us believe, but in addition to asking the FCC to use its own authority to delay the auctions, 52 members of the Committee on Energy and Commerce introduced this legislation to remove the deadlines from the statutes. It is true that the auction of the upper portion of the 700 megahertz band has been delayed five times, but conducting the auctions for both the upper and lower parts of the 700 megahertz band in June would be bad telecommunications policy and bad spectrum policy. These auctions should not go forward.”