Chairman suggests FCC has no plans to act on political ad disclosures

Chairman Tom Wheeler on Thursday suggested the FCC currently has no plans to act on its own to strengthen political ad disclosure requirements. 

After an open meeting, Wheeler said the FCC’s focus will be the many telecommunications issues currently on the commission’s plate. 

{mosads}”Well if the Congress acts, then we will clearly follow the mandate of Congress,” Wheeler told reporters Thursday. “And maybe you noticed, we have a long list of difficult telecommunications related decisions that we are dealing with right now. And that will be our focus.”

When asked again if there are no plans to begin crafting new rules, Wheeler said other telecommunications issues will be the commission’s “focus at this point in time.”

Democrats in Congress have pushed legislation that would require the FCC to update its sponsorship identity rules to force super-PACs and other outside groups to identify top donors at the end of advertisements on television and other broadcasts. 

But Democrats say the FCC already has the authority to act on its own and the legislation appears to have no shot of advancing in either the House or Senate. A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee rejected the measure on a party-line vote a day earlier.