Republicans Criticize Partisan Divide At FCC

Two Republicans on the Federal Communications Commission told a congressional panel Tuesday the partisan divide at the nation's telecommunications regulatory body is growing.

FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai, a Republican, said at a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing that the number of votes splitting along party lines at the five-member FCC is growing under FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler - and is twice as high as under four prior chairmen.

"Proposals from Republican commissioners have been roundly rejected as crossing a 'red line,' even when an identical proposal from a Democratic commissioner is accepted later on," Pai told a U.S. House panel. "Collaboration has fallen by the wayside."

Wheeler has a busy agenda in the final year of the Obama administration and has drawn the ire of some industry groups and Republicans in Congress.

He has proposed allowing consumers access to pay TV without renting an expensive set-top cable box. He also has proposed privacy rules that would require Internet service providers to get consent for using consumer data and has unveiled a plan to expand a subsidy for low-income Americans that covers mobile phones to include broadband Internet access.

FCC Commissioner Michael O’Reilly, another Republican, criticized Wheeler for "constantly pushing the envelope into questionable directions, at the expense of collegiality, staff morale and soundness of decisions."

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