House Republicans may be resisting President Joe Biden’s nominee for a third FCC Democrat, but they are urging the him to nominate an inspector general for the agency as it hands out billions of dollars in broadband subsidy funding under Biden. That came in a letter to the president signed by Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), House Energy & Commerce Committee ranking member; Robert Latta (R-Ohio), House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology ranking member; and Bill Johnson (R-Ohio).
The FCC has launched some new online touchpoints for complaints about waste, fraud and abuse to raise the profile of the Office of Inspector General. OIG is a small office with the big job of promoting efficient and effectiveness of FCC operations and investigating any complaints about its operations or programs, including being charged with monitoring for waste, fraud and abuse in the multi-billion dollar COVID-19-related relief programs.
The FCC’s internal watchdog found no evidence of a “concealment or cover-up” by Chairman Ajit Pai on interactions with the White House related to the failed Sinclair-Tribune merger.
By the end of last year, in a previously undisclosed move, the FCC’s inspector general, the agency’s top internal watchdog, opened an investigation into whether FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and his aides had improperly pushed for TV station ownership rule changes and whether they had timed them to benefit Sinclair Broadcast Group, according to Representative Frank Pallone of New Jersey and two congressional aides.
