U.S. Rep. David Cicilline joins Bonus Q&A to discuss efforts to regulate tech giants, efforts to improve Providence schools, and the expected loss of one of Rhode Island’s two congressional seats.
Here’s a rough transcript of this week’s Bonus Q&A featuring Cicilline, The Public’s Radio political reporter Ian Donnis, and our political analyst Scott MacKay.
Donnis: Congressman Cicilline you’re helping to lead an anti-trust review of Amazon, Google, and Facebook. The latter two have exploited the content of news organizations without really cutting them in on the revenue from that. Concerning their devastating impact on newspapers, is there a way to make Google and Facebook pay for that use of news content.
Cicilline: Yes. I mean, you’ve identified a very serious problem that is leading to the near extinction of local newspapers. We’re seeing layoffs and newspapers going out of business because the business model that currently exists — Facebook and Google take the vast majority the revenues but they use the content of small newspapers and they don’t share those revenues, and in fact they dictate the terms of how they’re going to use that content. So as an interim step I’ve introduced a piece of legislation called the Journalism Competition Act that will essentially allow small newspapers to collaborate together for purposes of negotiating with the two large technology platforms. Right now if the Providence Journal tries to negotiate with Google or Facebook they say go fly a kite. If you don’t like what we’re doing we will exclude your content. And so they don’t really have the ability to negotiate because they don’t have any bargaining power. This will create an opportunity for smaller newspapers and online publishers to come together for purposes of negotiating.
Donnis: Is that bill ever likely to become law?
Cicilline: Well … Yes. I mean where it has bipartisan support. The ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, Doug Collins is my lead co-sponsor of the bill. There’s a companion bill that has been introduced in the Senate that’s bipartisan. And I think the reason it has likelihood of moving forward is because everyone recognizes that the market concentration in this context is not just related to the sale of widgets. This is about our ability to have access to trustworthy reliable news information at the local level. And that’s critical to the functioning of our democracy. So absolutely that we should be able to move that bill.
MacKay: Another big tech question here. When A.G. Sulzberger, the young publisher of The New York Times, was in a couple of weeks back, we had a talk about big tech and one of the things we see here is: all over the world, the NBA now the National Basketball Association, putting money ahead of American values when they deal with countries like China.
Cicilline: Yeah I mean this is a very serious issue. When I raised the concern when there was information that Facebook was again engaged in a conversation about doing business in China. The impact that that kind of a presence can have in governments that are authoritarian that are cracking down on human rights and their ability to both conduct surveillance and gather up information based on people’s activities on Facebook is very dangerous.
MacKay: I was like 1984 in some realms.
Cicilline: That’s right. So I mean we need to understand that this is a great, wonderful company but it also can be misused in a very significant way by authoritarian governments or governments that don’t respect privacy or basic human rights.
Donnis: Are you going to endorse Joe Kennedy in his challenge to Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey?
Cicilline: I mean look, Joe Kennedy is a great friend of mine. He has been a great member of the house. He would be a great United States senator. If I do an endorsement I’ll make sure that you know it here. But I mean, I think the world of Joe Kennedy.
MacKay: Just wondering: are you surprised that this blush of nostalgia that we have at Trinity Rep and in other areas for Buddy Cianci, one of your old nemesis.
Cicilline: Yes. No I… look I think… I think everyone recognizes that. I… You know I made my views about my predecessor very clear all the time he was alive. I try not to speak about him after he’s passed away. But you know I think sadly we have a long history in this country of people kind of shrugging their shoulders at public corruption and thinking it’s no big deal and I continue to think it’s a very serious thing and has been a real impediment to progress in our state, in our city for a very long time.
MacKay: Have you seen the play?
Cicilline: I have not.
Donnis: President Trump will have a lasting effect on the U.S. regardless if he wins a second term because he’s appointed two U.S. Supreme Court justices, a lot of appeals court judges. Is it your view that if a Democrat wins the White House back next year that will largely help to restore the equilibrium in American politics or no?
Cicilline: think this will be a significant step in the right direction but we have to go back and look at all the executive actions that the president has taken to undo basic civil rights protections, to dirty our air and water, to allow drilling in our oceans, and sort of go back and undo a lot of the damage he’s done in the past four years.
MacKay: We’ve seen the parlous state of Providence schools. You were mayor for two terms. Do you have any regrets about the amount of emphasis you put on the schools when you were in the second floor corner office at city hall?
Cicilline: No. I’ve made education one of my most important priorities. We did a lot of work to kind of build on the out of school time piece in particular. We created the Providence After School Alliance which became a national model being replicated by over 40 cities now to help support the learning that’s happening in school. We undertook a major investment in facilities when I was mayor so much so that the state ended the program after a little while. But look we made progress. We didn’t make progress nearly as fast as I wanted, nearly as fast as parents wanted, and I recognize that we had a long way to go. But you know right now what we’re fighting in Washington is the president proposed a 12 percent cut in the department of education. The federal is mostly providing funds. He proposed a 12 percent cut which would have been a seven point one billion dollar cut. We fought hard to increase funding for education. Increase it by four and a half billion dollars up to a total of almost 76 billion. So right now my role is to make sure we’re providing as many resources as we can and we’re gonna do a big infrastructure bill that will include schools as part of that which is another critical responsibility.
Donnis: Rhode Island is expected to lose one of its two congressional seats after the current census. You’ve been moving up in the House leadership. You’re part of the upper leadership now. Does that mean that you’ll be committed to trying to stay in the Congress if one of the two seats is eliminated?
Cicilline: Well I would first say I hope we’re not going to lose a seat. I think you know it’ll be a very close call. I think last time we came very close. I think there’s a real effort underway in the state to make sure we count every single Rhode Islander. The reason it matters is not so much about my future, but it matters to our state because so much of the federal funding that it gets allocated is determined by your population. We live with that count for 10 years so it’s really important. But I have thoroughly enjoyed and think I’m making a real difference in my current role and I hope to stay in Congress and serve Rhode Island.
Donnis: This could impact you personally though. So you hope to stay in Congress?
MacKay: Look at it the other way, you know Jim Langevin, obviously if he got re-elected he would be the chairman of the Armed Services Committee very very important industry here in Rhode Island. In fact probably the best, some of the best blue collar jobs that we have, right there at Quonset with the submarines. And to have both he and Senator Reed in that top place would be a real edge for Rhode Island wouldn’t it?
Cicilline: I think Rhode Island will do well whoever is representing us in Congress and the United States Senate. Look, we have a great delegation: Senator Reed, Senator Whitehouse, Congressman Langevin and I, we all work together. That issue will sort itself out either we’ll retain two seats or we’ll elect one person, but I have every confidence that Rhode Islanders will make the right decision.
Donnis: Well speaking of Congress, one of your former interns Holyoke Massachusetts Mayor Alex Morse is running against longtime Massachusetts Congressman Richard Neal. Are you taking any side in that fight?
Cicilline: Yeah I support Richie Neal. He’s been a colleague. I’ve watched him. He’s terrific and I’m supporting him in his re-election.
Donnis: And with just a little bit time left. Do you think congressional Democrats were too meek in taking on President Trump in the time before Speaker Pelosi backed the impeachment inquiry?
Cicilline: No. I mean, I think you know we have been very aggressive in the Judiciary Committee conducting oversight. There are six committees of jurisdiction that have been doing this work. I think we have been doing it in a way that balances with our other responsibilities to get the work done for the American people. We’ve passed over 260 pieces of legislation. Four bills to reduce the cost of prescription drugs. One of them is my bill: the Creates Act. Six other health care bills. Equal pay for equal work. We increased the minimum wage. We provided for universal background checks. Prevented our withdrawal from the Paris climate accords. A new tax benefit for veterans. So we’re getting the work done for the American people. We’ve also have to hold this president and his administration accountable. And I think we’re striking the right balance in doing both of those things.
