House Commerce Democrats Protest Subcommittee Vote on Net Neutrality Resolution
House Commerce Committee Democrats said it’s too soon to vote on legislation to kill the FCC’s December net neutrality order. The Communications Subcommittee plans to mark up a Congressional Review Act joint resolution of disapproval at a business meeting Wednesday morning. But the committee and subcommittee’s ranking members -- California Democrats Henry Waxman and Anna Eshoo -- said they want a “legislative hearing” first. Meanwhile at the NAB State Leadership Conference, Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., predicted quick House passage of the joint resolution.
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"We are not aware of any time constraints or deadlines that require us to act” Wednesday, Waxman and Eshoo said. “The FCC’s rules will not go into effect for some time, giving us plenty of opportunity to hear views that have been excluded from the process.” Voting on the joint resolution before a legislative hearing “is a serious mistake and [we] urge you to reconsider,” Waxman and Eshoo said in a letter to Upton and House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore. “You apparently believe that disapproving the FCC regulation will promote economic growth,” but “many fast-growing companies … believe approval of the disapproval resolution would be a serious threat to our economy,” the Democrats wrote. “Members should have the opportunity to hear their perspective before voting on the resolution."
The Communications Subcommittee focused on net neutrality at a Feb. 16 hearing, but not specifically on House Joint Res. 37. “There has not been a hearing on the legislation,” that is “the use of the CRA in this particular case and we have not heard from the impacted parties,” said a Waxman spokeswoman. “The subcommittee already held a three-hour hearing with the five FCC commissioners … at which time the commissioners were offered the opportunity to convince the committee that they had a sound legal and policy basis for regulating the Internet,” said a spokeswoman for committee Republicans.
At the NAB conference, Upton predicted the subcommittee would approve the resolution of disapproval at its markup Wednesday. Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, plans to bring the legislation to the floor “probably before the end of this month,” said Upton, citing Boehner’s speech Sunday to the National Religious Broadcasters (CD March 1 p14). The net neutrality order could be the first of “many” moves by the FCC that exceed its authority, Upton said. “We're going to try to stop them in their path on a bipartisan basis in the House, and later in the Senate.”
Speaking later that day at a TechFreedom event, Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said the joint resolution was part of a three-step process that also includes budget defunding and her bill, HR-96, which would say only Congress can make rules for the Internet. The FCC rule means innovators need to get permissions from the FCC before they innovate, Blackburn said. The ruling is about a federal agency wanting to protect the Internet by freezing the Internet, she said. Innovators don’t want to go to the FCC every time they are ready to innovate, she said.
To pass the disapproval resolution and override an expected presidential veto, Republicans need to muster two-thirds majorities in the House and Senate. Walden’s recent budget amendment (CD Feb 22 p1) to stop the FCC from spending money to implement net neutrality rules got 244 votes in the House, 46 short of what they'd need to override a veto. Even if they find the votes, Republicans also will have to convince 67 members of the Democrat-controlled Senate.
The Communications Subcommittee markup is scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m. in Room 2123, Rayburn House Office Building.