Press Release

No senator should be pushing for a vote on Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination to a lifetime seat on the highest court in the land. A vote tomorrow would be reckless and irresponsible. There is not enough information for any senator to provide informed advice and consent.

Today, the FCC voted on an Order to limit the fees state and local governments can charge wireless companies to attach infrastructure for 5G deployment on public property. 5G is the next generation of wireless broadband service. These price caps will save the industry $2 billion in deployment costs. The FCC’s Order does not impose any deployment requirements or public interest obligations on telecom companies in return for capping fees.

Today, Common Cause urged that the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to release a report that was requested by Congress regarding the Commission’s role in enforcing prohibitions on foreign campaign contributions and expenditures. The report was due to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees yesterday in accordance with explanatory statements accompanying the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018.

The rushed and deficient process to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court has been anything but deliberative. The Senate must immediately hit pause. Hastily convening a hearing on Monday concerning Professor Christine Blasey Ford’s serious allegations is unacceptable and it should be postponed. It is past time to activate an emergency brake.

Today, Common Cause called on the House Ways and Means Committee to immediately investigate false statements made under oath to the committee by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross concerning the addition of a citizenship question to the U.S. census survey. The recent release of Ross’ correspondence with Commerce Department staffers reveal that Ross falsely claimed to the Committee in March that it was a Department of Justice (DOJ) request that had prompted his Department to add the citizenship question to the 2020 Census.

Yesterday, Common Cause and Public Knowledge filed comments in the FCC’s broadband deployment proceeding. The agency is required to release an annual report on whether advanced telecommunications services is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion. As part of its report, the FCC seeks comments from the public on how it should assess the state of broadband deployment and availability. Common Cause critiqued the agency’s flawed methodology which overstates who has access to broadband and its current policies for widening the digital divide. Common Cause also urged the Commission to take a bold, forward-looking approach and increase the national broadband standard.