YouSaid · the spoken record

Ajit Pai

lines on the record: 52
first: 2017-05-04
most recent: 2017-05-04
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“I'm impressed. I'm going to say, as an Eagles fan, I was expecting something more yet. We've bestowed Andy Reed upon you. But nothing at all. I really admire your restraint and wish you well with Alshon and some of the new people on board. It's going to be an exciting season for the Eagles. Yeah.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Was on the commission Didn't get That's up to the White House to decide in consultation with members of the Senate. She was a terrific colleague. I really enjoyed working with her. And she and I came through literally on the same day, as you remember, in May of 2012, and I've really enjoyed her insights. And even when we're on opposite sides of an issue, I can always have an intellectually honest discussion with her. And that's one of the great things I think about Washington.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I've not yet known, but I hope whoever those new colleagues will be that they come on board and share our vision of being an active, energetic agency that's focused on the consumer.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I was just over there today and met with a House and Senate members, Republicans and Democrats. And as I said, meeting with Senator King, the one thing I told him, which resonated with him, was that, look, rural broadband is not a Republican issue. It's not a Democratic issue. It's an American issue. And I truly believe that in my heart. And so, you look, the things that we tee up for the public's consideration, some of them might have more of a political tinge to it, but by and large, the bread and butter work of the FCC, at least as far as I see it, is on delivering digital opportunity. And that is something that I don't see as a partisan issue in the least.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, look, it's unfortunate. I think Washington has become more politically polarized and tech policy along with it has. It's really unfortunate. I still remember when the first hearings I went to on Capitol Hill was about a bill called Tozan Dingle, and it was a Republican chairman and Democratic ranking member joining ranks to introduce a bill. I don't even remember what the bill was about anymore, to be honest with you. But, I mean, by modern standards, it is remarkable that you would see a chairman and ranking member agreeing on anything as far-reaching as that. And so my hope is that we can try to return to that model. I try to meet with as many members of Capitol Hill on both sides as I can.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“In terms of Well, it's a really forward-looking agenda. I want to follow through on some of our proposals on infrastructure. I've been working with members of Congress on what I've called gigabit opportunity zones to essentially allow tax incentives to go to companies that want to build out in low-income rural and urban areas. And I've had conversations with members of minority communities, National Urban League and others, to try to figure out if there's a way to promote more digital opportunity and entrepreneurship in areas that historically have been on the wrong side of the digital divide. I'm going to keep focusing on that issue because I think it's right for America.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, two different points. I mean, one, we haven't been presented with any transaction yet. But secondly, the prior administration okayed something like $250 billion worth of transactions and consolidation. So as I pointed out recently, it's sort of funny to hear this criticism now and just over the last couple of years it's okayed the number of transactions that have raised consumers higher.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I'm certainly not. I've never gotten any hint from him or from anybody else that they wanted me to make a certain decision. And to the contrary, the consistent message they've given me starting on the day I got the phone call on January 23rd when I was designated as chairman was we have now made the decision that you are the appropriate person to lead this agency, lead this agency. Do what you think is right and we will back you up. We are not going to sit here and interfere with you or micromanage you in any way whatsoever.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, two points. I mean, they can always present a transaction for consideration and we'll make the appropriate judgment. But number two, the national owner Kaship hasn't stood in the way of a lot of these transactions in the past. And so transactions are always going to come and go depending on what the regulatory framework is. We're simply convinced that we have to have a set of rules that reflect the marketplace of 2017, not the marketplace of yesteryear. Sure.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Exactly. And so the point, the simple point we made was that legally speaking, you can't remove that discount without also examining the national ownership cap. The two of them go together because the UHF discount feeds into how that national ownership cap is calculated. And so all I simply said was let's return to the status quo, take a fresh look at the issue, and try to figure out what the optimal structure is for this going forward.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, one of the things we pointed out when we repealed the so-called UHF discount decision last month, I believe it was, was simply to say, look, you can't do one without the other. You can't get rid of the UHF discount. And just to be clear with that,”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah. I mean, to me, it seems pretty simple that some of these regulations that were imposed as early as 1975 have become yellowed with age. And I think that, as I said at NAB a couple weeks ago, if you were to tell somebody, well, the FCC has these rules with respect to the ownership of companies that generate news, but it excludes this thing called the internet. Oh, the internet doesn't matter anymore. I mean, that's just an absurd proposition in 2017. That's newspapers are declining and going out of business altogether. Broadcast TV and radio are having an even tougher time of it, especially in smaller markets where the revenue streams just aren't there. And so it seems to me that we should allow some of these regulations to be relaxed in recognition of the fact that the marketplace has changed. This is not 1975 anymore.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So we are at the point though that we're reexamining the country's media ownership rules. That's the big thing that you sort of teed up while you were speaking at NAB, the broadcaster trade show in Vegas just a few weeks ago.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I never pronounce judgment on any transaction, big or small, without looking at the facts. As President Obama once said, I try to think about these things before I say something about them.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Look, I don't take a pre existing view as to what the optimal market structure is. I don't think any regulator who embraces regulatory humility and intellectual honesty about economics can say whether three or four or five is the optimal number. What I do want to see is a competitive wireless marketplace. And so we'll see what happens if a transaction is presented before us. I want to see some of the documents. Companies traditionally have to file what are called 4C documents with the Justice Department. And that sort of suggests what the efficiencies would be from the transaction, what some of the competitive harms could be. That's the kind of evidence we want to see before making a judgment as to what the number of competitors on a national basis should be.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“All I can tell you is what I've said consistently going back to even when I was a nominee before the Senate Commerce Committee in November 30th of 2011, which is that I will evaluate every single transaction that's in front of me based on the facts in the record. I'm not going to simply allow more consolidation or that kind of thing just because some of ideology, it's a very fact-based approach. And I have a long history of doing this, going back to my time as a junior lawyer at the Justice Department in the NHRS division, where I evaluated mergers like this. I worked on the team that ended up blocking the merger of World Commons Sprint, for example, and we took a careful look at the facts and made the appropriate judgment. And that's exactly the type of framework I will apply at the FCC. Sure.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Was to take a look at that and tee up a bunch of different ideas that don't redound to the benefit of big companies necessarily. It's more than rocket fibers, the tiny companies that need access. And our goal is to lower the cost element for those small companies so that they have the confidence and the ability to deploy in places like Detroit or Parsons or wherever it might be.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's not good for me. Nobody. It's so important to me because look, the proposals we got across the finish line just two weeks ago on a bipartisan basis, I mean, wireline infrastructure, can you think of anything more calculated to make your eyes glaze over than the phrase wireline infrastructure? But getting cheaper and faster access to polls if you're a competitor, making it easier for you to string your competitive fiber in the conduit that goes under the ground, making it streamlined so you don't have to jump through all of these state and local hoops just to be able to deploy a network. I mean, those are things that disproportionately benefit these small companies. Just a month ago, I was in Detroit, met with a small competitive ISP named Rocket Fiber, and they are trying to provide an alternative to the big cable and telecom incumbents. And what they've told me is, look, without utility pole access, without some of the rights of way, without being able to get into the ground and string our conduit, we just don't have a business case, period. It's prohibitively expensive. And so what we did at the FCC last month or earlier this month.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Wireless ISP or anybody else if you're looking to build out your networks, then the last thing we want is to inhibit that with Title II regulations that are meant to regulate monopolies. I mean, Mabel was the monopoly in 1934 that Title II was designed for. I mean, Main Street broadband in Canon Falls, Minnesota, Wave Wireless in my hometown of Parsons, Kansas. I mean, these are not corporate Goliaths that are looking to screw over the consumers. These are the small companies we need to provide a competitive alternative to the big guys. Yeah.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I absolutely get that. I mean, look, internet service providers send you a bill every month and they might not give you the service that you deserve. They might not be fast enough. It might not be cheap enough, not be optimal for you. And I completely get that. But the solution to me is not to impose Title II regulation. It's for the regulators at least to set up a regulatory framework that promotes competition, that promotes more infrastructure investment, and that's consistently the position I've taken is that Title II regulations actually squeeze the smaller competitors who want to enter in the space and expand their networks. And just last week, we heard from 22 small ISPs, companies that nobody has ever heard of. In towns, no one, very few people will ever visit. And what they told us is, look, we are being inhibited Title II hangs like a black cloud, as they put it, over our businesses. It keeps us from getting financing. It inhibits our willingness to build out our networks, and we simply are not able to provide more people with digital opportunity as a result of that. And simple point I'm making is whether you are a cable company or a where.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Exploring the notes of proposed rulemaking. It could be how much of this starts with the fact that consumers are generally distrustful of telecom companies, of cable companies, of internet providers. That seems to be really, what's at root here?”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, that's part of it. It could be, but that's one of the things we're exploring the notes of proposed rulemaking is to figure out what the rules of the road should be.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Filibustering, I promise. So there could be a world in which the FCC does not have rules on paid prioritization or blocking or throttling on its books. It leaves it to other laws and after the fact goes after companies that misbehave.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Test whether or not something is competitive or not. And so given the cost that economists and others have identified with sweeping preemptive regulations in this space, it seems to me the lighter touch approach would be take a look after the fact if people are behaving great, fine, no problem at all. If there are complaints about any competitive conduct, then we take a look at that and evaluate whether it's anti-competitive. And so I guess that's the answer to the question I would offer.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, so, okay, here's the basic approach. When you think about regulation, and this is an answer to your question, I'm not filibustering, I promise, but if I don't answer it, just come back to me. Gladly. A regulator has two choices. You can regulate before the fact, ex-ante, as it's called, or you can regulate after the fact, ex post. Now, ex ante regulation traditionally is most appropriate when you see that there's market failure, when you see a marketplace is just so fundamentally broken, you have so much evidence in the record of bad behavior, like blocking websites or whatever, that there's no optimal solution other than preemptive regulation of everybody. Now here, if we're talking about a hypothetical harm, something that hasn't happened yet, it seems to me that ex post regulation after the fact is appropriate because number one, we don't know if these will ever exist, but number two, to the extent that they do exist, if some companies try to pursue these arrangements, then on a case-by-case basis, you can determine based on real facts, actual evidence that you can see and evaluate.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Sure So, just to be clear for folks who, again, maybe don't know the ins and outs of this debate that well, you don't want to necessarily put into place restrictions from the get-go that say there can't be fast lanes. You would rather see such fast lanes come into existence and then evaluate them on the merits.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But the key phrase in your question was in your mind. These don't exist. And prior to 2015, they didn't exist. So we're talking about something that's entirely hypothetical. So in a vacuum, one could conceive of any number of arrangements that are either pro-competitive or anti-competitive. And to me, as a recovering antitrust lawyer, that's a classic question of antitrust. You want to determine, of course, is there vertical restraint, as it's called in the business, that is impeding competition or otherwise harming consumer welfare. That's something the antitrust authorities, the Justice Department, antitrust division, the Federal Trade Commission, for instance, are squarely empowered to police. And so to me, if there are two different ways to go, it could be pro competitive or anti-competitive, then preemptively banning something doesn't necessarily, in the absence of demonstrable market failure or harm, seems to be a bit of an overreach.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I'm not sure who I'm sure somebody is going to file. That's the nature of the beast, as you know, for Lowe's many years, but I'm very confident that we are on sound legal footing just earlier this week, for instance, the DC Circuit explicitly said that the agency had authority under the so-called Brand X decision in 2005 to adopt a classification of Internet service providers as an information service, as opposed to the Title II telecommunications service. Sure.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Both of these worlds where innovators can innovate and network operators can build and consumers are ultimately better off with that virtuous cycle.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I say, look, we want the internet to continue to be this platform for innovation and investment. One of the things I noticed when I travel around the world, which I've had the chance to do in this position, is that the rest of the world really envies the fact that, as Mark Cuban has said, the best place to start a business is on the Internet in the United States. And that's a remarkable asset, I think, for us to have. And going forward, That's exactly what we want to preserve. A couple of years ago, Mark Andreessen, of course, the founder of the Netscape browser, who's now a very successful venture capitalist, he made the very perceptive point that you can't have these pure net neutrality rules if you also want to have massive investment in networks because the return on the investment simply isn't going to be there. And as he saw it, and as I see it, there's a happy middle ground here, which is light touch regulation. Don't impose these title to rules which inhibit infrastructure and ultimately are worse for startups because more Americans won't have internet access and or will have slower or more expensive internet access. Let's have light touch regulation that”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Only over the last two years, we had no rules on the books prior to 2015. And look, we had a free and open internet. We had an internet economy that became the envy of the world that made some of these edge providers globally known names. And that's a remarkable free market success story that I think we should celebrate as opposed to seeing as a potential market failure that needs to be regulated based on 1934 rules.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, I mean, for example, saying that you will lose your internet access if these rules, I mean, that's simply absurd. Anyone who had internet access before these rules were applied in 2015 knows that that's not the case. And the parade of horribles that are consistently trotted out have no resonance in fact prior to 2015. And I continue to believe that they're overstated going forward. Sure.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, look, that's part of the process. I wanted to make sure that we had a chance for the public to have it say. And then after that's over, after that period is over, the agency takes stock of what's in the record. And under the law, as enunciated by the DC Circuit Court of Appeals here, we have to have what's called substantial evidence. We have to find in the record sufficient facts to justify what course of action we are going to take. And so there's no numerical threshold that the courts have applied. They don't say, okay, 51% say yes, and 49% no say no, then the decision is clear or any proportion greater than that. But they've said substantial evidence.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That Title II is not the same as an open Internet. In fact, Title II takes us in the opposite direction by inhibiting competition, reducing investment in infrastructure. We had a free and open Internet prior to twenty fifteen, as I said last week, we weren't living in some digital dystopia until the FCC delivered these depression-era rules to save us. So I'm convinced that there are other paths to a free and open Internet that are much more market-friendly, much more consistent with, I think, what consumers want at the end of the day, which is better, faster, and cheaper internet access. And Title II simply doesn't get us there.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, we have to remember that not all 4 million were in support of the rules, some 1.6 to 1.7 million were opposed. But secondly, this is not a numerical threshold. What we have to do at the agency is figure out the right regulatory framework to preserve a free and open Internet and the incentive to invest in networks. And I don't think it's a radical position to say that the Clinton administration got it right, that the Bush administration got it right, that the first six years of the Obama administration got it right. I mean, this is a bipartisan issue historically. And you just have to look at some of the comments of people over the year from President Clinton to then Senator Kerry and Senator Wyden in 1998, then Chairman Kennard in 1999, the Title II, in their view at least at the time, was not the right approach.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And this is part of the reason why I wanted to make this proposal public. Unlike my predecessor, unlike the FCC in history, where traditionally things would be proposed and you, the American people, would only be able to see it after we voted. I wanted the American people to see exactly what it was I was proposing so they can see for themselves what's on the table. And so, yeah, the plan that we made public is the plan.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think we'll look at what that's the reason why we have the notes of proposed rulemaking to see what the rule should be. And I haven't made any determination. We're going to wait until the facts come into the record and make that decision.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, that's the entire purpose of a notice proposed rulemaking, to seek comment on what people think the rules of the road should be and what the legal framework for securing those rules should be. And so I've consistently said that I believe in a free and open Internet, and a part of that involves not blocking lawful content that consumers might want to access, being able to attach a device of your choice to the network, being able to get service information about your plan from your internet service provider. I mean, those are core things that have been on the minds of people since 2004, I believe, since then Chairman Powell announced what he considered to be the four internet freedoms. So the only question here is what legal framework can we adopt that secures those values? And how can we make sure that we obviously preserve the free and open Internet and the incentives to invest that benefit consumers?”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Exactly, that we want to impose monopoly style regulation developed from Mob Bell in the 1930s to apply to every single company in the United States that is building out a broadband network. And we would much rather have the free touch approach that the Clinton administration adopted. And that commitment was enshrined in law, where they said the Internet should develop unfettered from federal and state regulation. And so we're not saying the choice is either title to or the Wild West. It's that light touch regulation, the middle ground, so to speak, that we're looking to return to.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Part 32 Kennedy is Ogus Sargentini. Net neutrality. Net Cliff Dove version is the internet was free and open from the dawn of the internet age during the Clinton administration until 2015. In 2015 on a party line vote, of course, the agency imposed Title II regulations on the Internet service providers across this country, big and small. And going forward, I announced that I proposed a notice of proposed rulemaking in which we would number one proposed to remove the Title II classification of ISPs. Number two, propose to remove the so-called Internet conduct standard. And number three, ask for public input on how to preserve some of those core protections of an open internet that all of us favor. And the reason I said we were doing this was because infrastructure investment has lagged. Competition with it has lagged. And especially in parts of the country like low income, rural and urban areas, we see something called digital redlining where ISPs will simply say, well, you know, look, there's not enough return on investment here, especially with this regulatory or overhang. We're going to be even less likely to build out to those areas. And so that's something I want to avoid if we can.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I mean, that's another one of the cases. Yeah, look, people are free to say whatever they think, but the reality speaks otherwise.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Oh, it's absurd. I mean, I look, I understand that people are going to want to take a hatch a job to me, to my integrity, to my decisions. And that's obviously what the First Amendment's all about. But I wish people would focus on some of the things that we've done on a bipartisan basis. The very first vote under my chairmanship was delivering $170 million of funding, federal funding to upstate New York to build out broadband. The first meeting that I had the privilege of setting the agenda for, we got unanimously over the finish line of $4.5 billion plan to build out 4G LTE and a $2 billion plan to build out fixed broadband to parts of the country that don't have it. I mean, to me, if I were truly anti-consumer, I would simply say, you know what, the digital divide is fine with me. Why expend any agency resources trying to close it? And so I think the proof is in the pudding, even if it doesn't get the recognition that it deserves.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I mean, that's an unfortunate view of things. I've consistently tried to reach common ground. And even in the previous administration, some of these orders that were adopted on party line votes before those votes, I consistently reached out and said, you know, look, let's try to reach a common ground here because ultimately the agency's decisions stand the test of time, both in terms of longevity and in terms of public support, if they are bipartisan. And unfortunately, a lot of those entreaties were buffed. And so all we're simply trying to do in a lot of cases is go back to the status quo, trying to figure out the rules of the road that are forward-looking, market-based, and hopefully bipartisan.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Wanted to relieve some of those, those are the kinds of regulations I had in mind because I want every dollar that a company has to be spent on building out networks, not on paperwork or regulatory requirements that aren't relevant in 2017, whatever relevance they might have had back in 1934, 1996, or 2015 or whatever. Sure.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“What I had in mind were some of the regulations that we've had on the books for a while that stand in the way of investment in networks. And just to give you a very simple example, just last couple of weeks ago at our most recent FCC meeting, we voted on a bipartisan basis to get rid of a rule that artificially held back rural telecom carriers from building out their networks. Essentially, the message the FCC had given previously was you can accept federal subsidies to build out in these areas, but if you build out to some of the higher cost areas, then you essentially lose all of that funding. We just got rid of that because it's the last thing we want to do is prevent these carriers from building out. And that's the sort of antiquated rule that we wanted to get rid of. Our Part 32 accounting rules, exceedingly boring, I recognize, but just the fact that companies have to maintain two different sets of books, literally one for their business and one for the FCC's purposes. And the FCC hadn't relied on any of that paperwork in years. And I asked our staff, what was the last time you looked at these reports? They said, well, pretty much never.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Don't engage in content regulation. I mean, I know there's a big debate about that. And what I've consistently said is that's more of a political debate that lies outside of the FCC's bailiwick. We're focused first and foremost on making sure that we have a competitive marketplace that allows everybody in newspapers, broadcast TV, broadcast radio, and others to continue to thrive in the digital age. And we'll let the chips fall in terms of content wherever they may.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I will never stop loving you. You will never stop loving me. Is there a role for the FCC to play in fake news? I think a lot of people think there's a role for the FCC to play, but what's your thought?”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The answer is that I love you, Tony. I will never stop loving you. You will never stop loving me. No, but I've consistently said, look, the First Amendment is a core part of the Bill of Rights, the freedom of the press, the freedom of speech, the freedom of expression. What makes America distinctive, I think, among societies in the world today and over history? It's unusual to have a First Amendment, frankly, and that I think journalists around the country do a terrific job, an important job covering issues of local interest, making sure that communities are involved. And look, so long as I have the privilege of being at the FCC, I'm going to continue speaking out in favor of the First Amendment. Sure.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“not so much for a couple of different reasons first and foremost I stress to the White House and they have agreed repeatedly that we are an independent agency and secondly the issues that I've chosen to champion closing the digital divide for instance boosting rural broadband I mean these are not issues that know a party affiliation just this afternoon for instance I met with Senator Angus King an independent from Maine and outside of his office there's a great poster of JFK with a quote that says something to the effect of let us not search for the Republican answer let us not search for the Democratic answer let us search for the right answer and notwithstanding the fact that things like net neutrality occupy a lot of the space in the public discourse if you look behind the scenes you'll see a ton of the stuff that we've done on a bipartisan basis to deliver digital opportunity to a lot of Americans and even if it doesn't make the headlines that's the stuff the bread and butter work of the FCC that I'm really proud about and I think it's frankly apolitical”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Thankfully, he didn't say it in those words, but yes, it was very gratifying at the end to know that I had come away with making a favorable impression.”
2017-05-04 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT