STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER ROBERT M. McDOWELL
Re: Misuse of Internet Protocol (IP) Captioned Telephone Service CG Docket No. 13-24; 
Telecommunications Relay Services for Speech-to-Speech Services for Individuals with Hearing 
and Speech Disabilities, CG Docket No. 03-123.
I support this Order and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking with caution and with the hopes that the 
Commission will carefully assess whether these interim measures adequately curb unnecessary growth in 
the Interstate Telecommunications Relay Service Fund (Fund).  The interim Order is intended to serve as 
an immediate means to slow the recent spike in demand for the Fund but should not pre-judge permanent 
changes to the rules.  
I look forward to working with my colleagues and all stakeholders as we examine the evidence in 
the record.  We must find solutions that fulfill our statutory obligations to ensure that an individual with a 
hearing disability is able to communicate “in a manner that is functionally equivalent”
1
to a hearing 
individual’s ability to communicate with voice communications services as well as make sure that the
Fund is administered in a fiscally conservative manner.  After all, the Fund is ultimately financed by 
consumers.     
                                                          
1
See 47 U.S.C. § 225, as amended by Section 103(a) of the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video 
Accessibility Act of 2010.