Draft legislation to reform FCC processes, authored by House Energy and Commerce Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, has evolved into a bipartisan debate. While Republicans cite the reform as "an effort to have the FCC be more transparent and comply with the regulatory reform principles President Barack Obama endorsed", Democrats and progressive-oriented advocacy groups feel the reform would make it more difficult for the FCC to do its job.

The proposal would require, among other things, the FCC to justify rules by identifying market failure or consumer harm and performing a cost-benefit analysis. Walden’s legislation cleared the Communications and Technology Subcommittee, and will be marked up by the full Committee in 2012.

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