FCC Chairman Discusses Deregulation Efforts
During a policy discussion hosted by Breitbart News on March 10, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr highlighted the ongoing deregulatory measures being undertaken by the Federal Communications Commission. He noted that these efforts have successfully eliminated over 1,000 regulations and trimmed down hundreds of pages from the agency’s rulebook as part of a comprehensive review of federal communications regulations.
Matthew Boyle, the Washington Bureau Chief, inquired about Carr’s “Remove, Remove, Remove” initiative, aimed at discarding outdated regulations from the FCC’s rulebook. “This is the largest deregulatory effort in FCC history,” Carr stated emphatically.
“We thoroughly examined our rulebook, specifically the FCC Code of Federal Regulations. Each element was scrutinized by each bureau and office, reviewing it page by page. We identified which rules were outdated, which could be eliminated, and which needed modification,” Carr elaborated.
According to Carr, this extensive process has already led to the removal of several regulations and a significant reduction in the overall length of the regulatory code.
“I think we’ve repealed just over 1,000 regulations. That’s about 130 words deleted, and we’ve cut down 300 pages from our federal regulations. We’re committed to continuing the repeal of unnecessary regulations,” Carr mentioned.
He also pointed out that the FCC has been addressing dormant documents—those that were initiated but never published—which led to excessive regulatory burdens. “So far, I believe we’ve reviewed around 2,000 inactive proceedings,” he noted.
“We’re making great progress. We are exceeding the government’s 10-to-1 requirement, where for each regulation introduced, ten others are being repealed,” Carr added.
Boyle prompted Carr to share some specific examples uncovered during this regulatory review.
“That’s really surprising,” Carr responded. “We found regulations related to telegraph services that no longer exist and rules for phone booths, things that have just lingered on the books for decades.”
