The office of Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., questioned...

Circuit vacated the FCC’s net neutrality rules in a mid-January decision but affirmed the agency’s authority over broadband. At issue was a commitment Wheeler made to Thune, ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee, during Wheeler’s confirmation process last year. Thune had asked Wheeler, in a question for the record (http://1.usa.gov/1eRqgVg): “Please answer yes or no -- if you are confirmed and if the FCC’s Open Internet order is struck down in the courts, will you come to Congress for more direction before attempting another iteration of network neutrality rules?” Wheeler replied yes. But Wheeler told The New York Times in an interview last week that he felt no obligation to return to Congress because the court decision affirmed the FCC’s Communications Act Section 706 authority over broadband, despite vacating the net neutrality rules. “What I said was if the Open Internet Order was thrown out by the court, of course I would talk to Congress,” Wheeler told the newspaper (http://nyti.ms/1bSpdDg). “But the Open Internet Order was not thrown out by the court. In fact, the court affirmed our authority.” The FCC confirmed to us the accuracy of the quote in the newspaper. But Thune’s office did not buy the argument, saying the question was never one of authority but one of new rules. “Senator Thune certainly believes the Chairman needs to abide by his commitment to return to Congress for more direction before trying to impose net neutrality restrictions again,” a spokeswoman for Thune told us this week. “Considering The New York Times itself has reported that the court ’threw out’ and ‘invalidated’ the net neutrality parts of the Open Internet Order, as has nearly every media outlet and commentator who has written about the case, the Chairman’s parsing of the decision sounds like legal hair-splitting. Senator Thune hopes the Chairman will avail himself of this opportunity to work with Congress and key stakeholders, rather than repeating the mistakes of the past on this issue.” Senate and House Democrats introduced legislation last month to restore net neutrality rules, and the bill, while not seen as likely to move, is seen as a signal pushing the FCC to act. “We would really like to see Chairman Wheeler come consult with Congress before engaging in any action in regard to this court order,” said Jason Van Beek, Senate Commerce Republican deputy general counsel, Tuesday during a NARUC panel. The FCC has an Office of Legislative Affairs and regularly interacts with Congress with varying levels of formality.