Barton, Stearns Urge FCC to Drop Reclassification Push
Two top House Commerce Committee Republicans Thursday asked the leaders of the House Commerce Committee to join them in a letter insisting that the FCC put a stop to broadband reclassification before Congress has a chance to investigate more fully. Meanwhile, Reps. John Shimkus, R-Pa., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., members of the Telecom Subcommittee, said in a call with reporters the “vast majority” of members of Congress oppose reclassification.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
Reps. Joe Barton, R-Texas, ranking member of the Commerce Committee, and Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., ranking member of the Telecom Subcommittee, also asked Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., to hold a hearing on the “legal validity and policy consequences” of the proposal. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski acknowledged congressional concerns during Thursday’s meeting (see related story).
"The committee must not abdicate its oversight responsibilities on a matter of this magnitude, particularly in light of the huge repercussions such a decision could have on jobs, investment, broadband deployment, and the U.S. economy,” wrote Barton and Stearns. “More than 285 members of the U.S. Congress -- on both sides of the Capitol and on both sides of the aisle, including a majority of the House -- are already on record as opposing Chairman Genachowski’s plan to reverse that legislated policy, along with more than a decade of bipartisan FCC precedent.” Public Knowledge President Gigi Sohn said in response: “They don’t want the FCC to act, but they don’t want Congress to act, either."
"We have an open Internet right now,” Shimkus said during a call with reporters. “If someone would deny or slow up service for competitive advantage, the FCC can already take action. The issue here for me has always been we want more pipes, not less. We don’t want one pipe regulated by the national government.” Shimkus said the more uncertainty the FCC creates, the higher the costs of borrowing money for broadband projects. “Bad policy, bad timing, bad for jobs,” he said. “I think the House of Representatives has clearly dug their heels in to make a statement -- FCC don’t go this way.”
At this point, 290 members of the House and Senate have signed on to a letter opposing reclassification, Blackburn said. “There is a reason for that,” she said. “In working with the technology-based businesses in our districts we clearly understand that you don’t take a law that was written in 1934 for Morse Code and apply it to megabytes.” Asked if Genachowski has “prejudged” the outcome of the proceeding, Blackburn said, “I think that he is moving along this path.” The FCC vote clearly reflects the Obama Administration’s policy, Blackburn said. “It fits with the president’s agenda -- more government control, more agency intervention in the private sector.”
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, ranking member of the Commerce Committee, was also sharply critical of the FCC vote. “Today is yet another sign that this Administration does not understand the risks associated with government intervention into what, so far, has been a vibrant and creative platform,” Hutchison said. “Unfortunately, the FCC has taken the step forward to create new burdensome regulations that threaten to stifle the growth of America’s broadband services.”
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said the FCC inquiry may not be the final word. “The recent court decision in the Comcast case was unfortunate -- it created big questions about the FCC’s ability to meaningfully protect consumers in this new broadband age,” he said. “For this reason, I support the agency seeking comment. As I have said previously, in the short term this is the right course and the right thing to do. In the long term, however, I believe we need to develop consensus to update the law, further safeguard consumers, and spur universal broadband deployment."
But Rep. Ed Markey, a long-time member of the Commerce Committee, voiced general support for the FCC vote launching the NOI. “Today’s action to begin an open, public process for considering possible legal frameworks for broadband regulation is an important step towards putting the FCC’s authority in this vital area on firm legal footing,” said Markey in a statement. “Chairman Genachowski’s tailored regulatory proposal is the right response for carefully cutting the Gordian knot that has tied up our nation’s broadband networks in regulatory uncertainty since the Comcast decision."
Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., said in a letter that the FCC majority’s proposed “light-touch regulatory proposal is a sensible, middle way to ensure continued innovation, consumer protection and certainty in the broadband marketplace.” Thirty-one other members signed the Inslee-led letter.
Congress probably will pass legislation about the FCC’s authority to regulate Internet access “in the long run,” after the commission acts this year, Alan Davidson, Google’s public-policy director, told us Thursday. The contention of net neutrality opponents that Google should be included in any nondiscrimination regulation as an important gatekeeper is “a cynical ploy to try to exact a political price for companies that support an open Internet,” an executive of the company said.