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| Michael P. O'Rielly |
Michael P. O’Rielly, a Republican Capitol Hill staffer
nominated to fill a vacancy on the FCC, told the Senate Commerce Committee on
Wednesday that agency regulations “need to be flexible” and to have “as light
hand as possible,” asccording to Variety.
There are few doubts that O’Rielly will be confirmed.
Committee chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W. Va. )
predicted as much, and it is expected that his nomination will be paired with
that of Tom Wheeler, a Democrat, to make both politically palatable to the full
Senate.
But Rockefeller took issue with O’Rielly’s approach to
regulation, calling O’Rielly’s “light hand” remarks “code words” that ignore
the role of regulation in reining in the excesses of unchecked technology.
O’Rielly, who has worked for Congress for 20 years, is
currently an adviser to Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), the Republican minority
whip. He previously was a staffer for Sen. John Sununu (R-N.H.) and for the
House Energy and Commerce Committee.
O’Rielly signaled a willingness to look at revising media
ownership rules, an effort that has been sidelined as the agency looks at the
impact any changes would have on minorities and women.
Asked about what he would do when it came to indecency
complaints, he said he would seek to “enforce the statute,” but he was not
specific as to how he would craft a policy that could survive a constitutional
challenge from broadcasters.
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