Net Neutrality to be ‘Pawn’ in Federal Spending Battle

With President Barack Obama and House Republicans about $100 billion apart on the FY 2011 budget, both sides will have to make compromises, observers said. Whether the net neutrality amendment survives the “already messy” budget negotiations will depend on how high net neutrality is on either side’s list of priorities, said Larry Downes, senior adjunct fellow of think tank TechFreedom. While all of the Hill GOP efforts to overturn the FCC order face an uphill fight, the CR amendment is “probably more of a threat” than Republicans’ joint resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act, said MF Global analyst Paul Gallant. Net neutrality is now “just a pawn in the larger battle over federal spending,” he said.

The net neutrality amendment still must survive negotiations with the Democrat-controlled Senate and Obama, who has called the FCC order an important part of his jobs strategy. Lawmakers have until March 4 to conclude talks. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., “has stated that the starting point for Senate Democrats is a five-year freeze on non-security discretionary spending,” said David Taylor, managing partner of Capitol Solutions. So, he said, Reid and Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, “will seek to use their plan, not the House passed version of the CR, as the base text for purposes of considering amendments in the Senate."

The vote on the Walden amendment was mainly on party lines, but ten Democrats voted for the amendment, and four Republicans voted against it. One of the Republicans, Rep. Jerry Lewis of California, later said he meant to vote for the amendment. The net neutrality issue seems to have grown even more partisan this year, said Downes. Last year, many House Democrats wrote letters opposing FCC Internet regulation, but now net neutrality appears to be a strict party-line issue, he noted.

"Together we and our colleagues send a strong message to the FCC that they have overstepped their authorities,” Walden and House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., said in a joint statement about the net neutrality amendment. “We look forward to continuing this critical work to ensure that the open and thriving Internet we know today remains available to customers and job-creating entrepreneurs alike."

"Contrary to the hyperventilated rhetoric from the Republicans … the new FCC open Internet rules are, in fact, a bill of rights for Internet users,” Commerce Committee Ranking Member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said Friday. “They do not ‘regulate the Internet,’ they do not grant the government the power to ’turn off the Internet,’ and they do not determine what content is appropriate for users to access. Their goal is just the opposite: to prevent Internet gatekeepers from deciding what content their subscribers can access."

Democrats rejected the Walden amendment on the House floor Thursday. “You vote for this amendment and you give control to the Broadband Barons,” said Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass. House Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., said members who support the amendment should try talking to Silicon Valley and “young people in their district.” They want to preserve an open Internet, she said. “This is so wrong-headed, and it says to me that you don’t get it."

The vote on the Walden amendment may indicate a steep path ahead for Republicans trying to pass a joint resolution of disapproval under the CRA. With 244 voting for Walden’s amendment, Republicans would need to find 46 more votes to override a presidential veto. Even if they find it, overriding the veto also will take 67 votes in the Senate.

The defunding amendment and joint resolution of disapproval “face stiff headwinds in Congress, owing to likely resistance from Democrats who control the Senate and President Obama’s veto threat specifically associated with” the joint resolution, said Medley Global Advisors analyst Jeffrey Silva. Potomac Research analyst Paul Glenchur agreed: “It seems unlikely that either legislative vehicle is going to succeed in the end."

"Republicans might view this two-pronged approach as a way to keep up the pressure for any future net neutrality disputes the Commission takes up,” said Gallant. House Republicans may be charging ahead to appease the tea party caucus, Silva said. “The tea party factor will likely be an ongoing challenge for the Republican leadership going forward, potentially complicating political strategizing and apt to produce from time to time legislative gestures -- symbolic and otherwise -- much like the two currently aimed at net neutrality."

The adopted amendment is “a stern congressional rebuke directed at Chairman Julius Genachowski and Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Michael Copps, reminding the FCC it cannot create rules, it can only enforce them,” said Bruce Walker, research fellow for tech policy at the Heartland Institute, which often opposes regulation. Free Press Action Fund managing director Craig Aaron said the amendments affecting the FCC are “outrageous overreach.” House leadership’s message is that “unchecked corporate power and rampant discrimination are their priorities,” he said. The FCC declined to comment on the net neutrality amendment.

Other Amendments

The House also passed an amendment by Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., that would cut Lloyd from the agency’s payroll, as well as other government officials. Rep. John Carter, R-Texas, had a similar amendment but decided to support the Scalise amendment instead, the House GOP Conference secretary said in an e-mail.

Congress directed the FCC to promote diversity in communications because it’s “important to American prosperity and its strength as a nation,” a senior FCC official said. “For more than 18 months, Mark Lloyd has helped the commission pursue this congressional objective, contributing on many important initiatives -- like working to bridge the digital divide by increasing broadband adoption among hard-pressed Americans. We know that broadband adoption and technology are key to economic success and American competitiveness in the 21st century."

"Mark Lloyd, a respected civil rights activist and historian, is the victim of a Fox News-fueled conspiracy theory that has no basis in reality,” said Aaron. “For the House of Representatives to target a public servant for abuse based on the incoherent ranting of Glenn Beck is appalling and absurd. Anyone who believes the media should strive to represent the diversity of this country should be nauseated by this disgraceful attack.” Beck is a politically conservative talk-show host.

An amendment to kill wireless subsidies for the poor never surfaced on the House floor. The amendment would have cut the subsidies under the Universal Service Fund low-income program. The amendment’s sponsor, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., decided not to offer it due to “time constraints and limitations on amendments,” his spokeswoman said.

An amendment to kill the RUS Community Connect broadband grants program, offered by Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, was eligible for debate Friday. It wasn’t discussed before our deadline.