U.S. House panel launches probe of FCC practices

By Julie Vorman

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Worsening friction between Congress and the head of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission escalated on Tuesday into a formal investigation of agency rule-making procedures and management practices.

The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee said it launched the probe to determine if the agency had been fair, open, efficient and transparent when crafting regulations.

The panel did not cite a specific case in a letter to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin but the investigation comes just three weeks after Martin defied lawmakers by holding a vote to ease media ownership restrictions.

Committee Chairman John Dingell a Democrat of Michigan and the ranking Republican, Joe Barton of Texas, asked Martin to save all electronic records and personal e-mails related to FCC work. The investigation would also "address a growing number of allegations received by the committee" that relate to management practices, their letter said.

Last month, Dingell expressed concern that under Martin, the FCC did not give enough notice of proposed new FCC rules and that Martin was slow to give the other four commissioners details of draft agenda items.

An FCC spokesman declined to comment on the letter, but said Martin had previously responded to a December inquiry from Dingell that asked about agency procedures.

"Commission processes and decision-making time frames remain essentially the same as the general decision-making procedures established nearly 10 years ago under Chairman William Kennard," Martin wrote to Dingell.

Martin, a Republican, has clashed with Congress on other issues.