The Federal Communications Commission may have hit on the formula for an independent agency to work cooperatively for the public good and draw praise from both sides of the aisle — the lack of a political majority.

The FCC continues to be at a political tie, but the agency drew praise from both sides of the aisle — during a three-hour-plus House FCC oversight hearing Wednesday (June 21) — for its bipartisanship and for actually getting some important things done.

It was the first oversight hearing since March 2022 and, like the FCC, was notable for its collegiality and lack of drama or angst.

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The caveat in that collegial FCC approach is that the commission has not been able to reimpose network-neutrality rules or re-regulate broadcast ownership, things that a Democratic majority would almost certainly have already tried to tackle in the two-plus years since President Joe Biden, a Democrat, was elected.

So, the collegiality is definitely at least partially a byproduct of the limits on what the chair can bring up for a vote without facing a deadlock.

That reality notwithstanding, at Wednesday's hearing both Democrats and Republicans praised FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel and her colleagues for how they had been working cooperatively.

“[T]he lack of a full Commission has not stopped the FCC from tackling important issues,” said ranking member Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.). “The impressive bipartisan work reflects positively on chairwoman Rosenworcel’s leadership and on the ability of all four of you to work together, compromise and, largely, put the needs of people over partisan politics.’

Rep. Bob Latta (R-Miss.), chair of the Communications Subcommittee, pointed out during his questioning that most of the votes on FCC items had been unanimous and that it was refreshing to see the FCC acting in a bipartisan way “without straying too far outside of [its] authorizing statute or exercising regulatory overreach.” (A majority Democratic FCC reinstating network neutrality rules, for example, would almost certainly fall under that “overreach” category for Latta.)

Obviously, Republicans also like the fact that the chair can generally only bring up items for a vote that would not draw Republican opposition — like net neutrality rules or broadcast regulations — since “no” votes from the commission's two Republicans would prevent such items from being approved.

Also Read: Simington: FCC Commissioners Need Role in Reviewing Delegated Authority

Pointing out that the Senate would be holding a nomination hearing on Anna Gomez for that third Democratic FCC seat, Latta asked Rosenworcel to commit that if Gomez was confirmed she would continue to seek strong bipartisan agreement and “practice regulatory restraint.”

Rosenworcel did not directly address the restraint part of the question, but did say she was proud of what had gotten done with a 2-2 commission, saying that the FCC had “turned down the noise and ramped up the work.” But the also said that Congress intended the FCC to have five members, so she looked forward to Gomez’s confirmation “sooner rather than later,” adding, “But we will continue to operate in a collegial way with every one of my colleagues no matter who they are or how many we have.”

One definite sign of the collegial tenor at the current FCC was the written testimony of Republican commissioner Nathan Simington, which sounded like it could have come from the Democratic chairwoman. “The FCC has been immensely productive, laser focused on the public interest and on faithfully implementing Congressional mandates,” he told the committee, adding, “The FCC made significant progress on efforts to promote the efficient use of spectrum, to secure our nation’s networks against cyberattacks and on making sure that Earth orbit remains as valuable a resource for future generations as it is for ours.” 

In advance of a high-profile Capitol Hill hearing on “Facebook and the Impact of Instagram on Youth,” Facebook said Monday it is “pausing” its plans to create a kid-targeted version of the popular Instagram photo-sharing app.

“While we stand by the need to develop this [Instagram Kids] experience, we’ve decided to pause this project,” said Instagram head Adam Mosseri. “This will give us time to work with parents, experts, policymakers and regulators, to listen to their concerns, and to demonstrate the value and importance of this project for younger teens online today.”

Also Read: Facebook Agrees to Participate in Instagram Hearing

Facebook has argued that creating the kid-friendly platform is a way to address the problem of kids under 13 misrepresenting their age online to access the adult/teen version.

”We firmly believe that it’s better for parents to have the option to give their children access to a version of Instagram that is designed for them — where parents can supervise and control their experience,“ Mosseri said.

The policymakers preparing to grill Facebook this week will certainly share their concerns with the company, and if recent hearings and statements related to the company are any indication, they will do so vigorously.

Also Read: Senator Says TikTok Needs Hill Grilling

Facebook last week agreed to send a witness to Washington for a Sept. 30 hearing this week in the Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee entitled “Protecting Kids Online: Facebook, Instagram, & Mental Health Harms.”

Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), chair and ranking member, respectively, of the subcommittee are both unhappy with a Wall Street Journal report that Facebook had data showing Instagram could be harmful to young people, but downplayed it.

The Senate Commerce Committee has scheduled a Federal Trade Commission oversight hearing.

The office of the committee's chairman, John Thune (R-S.D.), announced that the hearing will be Sept. 27 at 10 a.m.

Look for broadband privacy to be a hot topic of conversation. Committee Republicans have been pushing the FCC to take a page from the FTC's privacy oversight and focus on tailoring broadband privacy to the sensitivity of information, and to adopt an opt-out, rather than opt-in, regime for information sharing, which has been the FTC's approach.

Just last week, the major ISPs called on the committee to drill down on the FCC proposal.

The FCC inherited oversight of broadband privacy from the FTC when it reclassified ISPs as common carriers, which the FTC is excluded from regulating under the false and deceptive authority the FTC uses.

Related:Court Decision Raises Edge Provider Regulation Issues

There could also be questions about the recent court decision that called into question whether buying a common carrier could insulate edge providers from FTC privacy regulatory authority.

Senate Commerce Committee chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) took to the Senate floor Thursday (July 7) to criticize the FCC and its chairman over alleged disclosure of nonpublic information. 

In a lengthy speech, Thune said independent agencies need to be accountable to the people but that in recent years the FCC has been behaving more like a de facto arm of the executive branch "wholly subservient to the President" than an independent agency reporting to Congress. President Obama has publicly pressed for Title II reclassification and "unlocking" the set-top box, both FCC hot topics.

Thune also talked about the recent partisanship at the agency, which he attributed to "an institution that has seized regulatory power while simultaneously shutting down bipartisan dialog and compromise."

As examples he cited the FCC's Lifeline reform, "backward looking" set-top box proposal, "power grab of stunning proportions" of new Title II-based net-neutrality rules, broadband privacy "power grab" and other actions, which he said had all been characterized by a lack of respect for the limits of the FCC's authority as delegated by Congress.

He called that a downward trajectory for the agency and blamed FCC chairman Tom Wheeler.

Thune said Wheeler had "embraced" partisanship over compromise. He also said the chairman exercises his powers with neither humility nor a light touch. Thune particularly took aim at what he suggested was selectively leaking nonpublic information, counter to FCC rules.

Thune cited the FCC's March 31 open meeting to illustrate selective leaks in service of his general "power grab" theme. That was the FCC's vote on Lifeline reform, which included the collapse of a compromise between the two Republican commissioners and Democrat Mignon Clyburn.

The compromise was reported by various outlets, including Multichannel News, prior to the delayed meeting start. It ultimately fell through over Clyburn's decision that she could not support a cap on the Lifeline subsidy.

Thune said Wheeler was trying to exempt himself from the rule preventing disclosure of nonpublic information by selectively leaking information about the compromise. Thune said the result of the leak was that "the story spurred outside political pressure against the emerging bipartisan compromise, which subsequently fell apart" to be replaced by a party-line vote on the chairman's proposal, which did not have the cap Republicans favored.

The chairman’s office had no comment, but Wheeler has explained his position in a letter to Thune.

The senator said that, when pressed, the chairman would not say whether he had authorized the leak. Thune said Wheeler did answer that he was "empowered to do anything that streamlines the FCC's work." Thune called that a "specious" attempt to exempt the chairman from a clear FCC rule.

The senator said Wheeler was using the rule against disclosure of nonpublic information as both a shield and a sword, saying he was free to share such information, but suggesting Republican Ajit Pai had actually done so in violation of the rule.

The FCC Inspector General is currently investigating the leak, and Thune said he is looking forward to the findings.