House GOP Coordinates Multi-Bill Assault on FCC Net Neutrality Rules
Two House Republicans think that two bills to scale back FCC authority over the Internet are better than one. Reps. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., each introduced a bill last week opposing the FCC’s recent net neutrality order. A Blackburn spokesman said Wednesday that multiple bills may be necessary to get their point across to the FCC. Meanwhile, former Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., said he doesn’t believe the GOP’s related Congressional Review Act effort is likely to succeed.
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The Stearns and Blackburn bills are “complementary,” and the two Republicans “communicate frequently on this issue,” the Blackburn spokesman said. “It is important for Congress to affirm the limits of the FCC’s jurisdiction. As the FCC has proven adept at selective interpretation of Congressional will, we may well have to engage in multiple affirmations.”
Stearns’ bill (HR-166) would prohibit the FCC from regulating information or Internet access services without first proving there was a market failure. Blackburn’s bill (HR-96) would state that only Congress can make rules for the Internet. Both bills were originally introduced in the last Congress and have maintained mostly the same language. Republicans in the House and Senate also plan to try reversing commission rules using the Congressional Review Act.
Boucher would rather Congress set the rules for net neutrality, but the FCC order was consensus-based and “the principles are correct,” the former Communications Subcommittee chairman said in an interview. Boucher has not accepted a new job yet, but likely will take a private sector job related to technology, he said. “It would have been vastly preferable for Congress to have adopted narrowly targeted principles to assure network openness,” but the political will in Congress was missing, Boucher said. “Having the commission act is the next best thing.”
It’s “mostly a political statement” for Republicans to try reversing the FCC rules using the Congressional Review Act, Boucher said. “It can’t become law unless it’s signed by the president, so we know it’s not going to become law.”