House Appropriations Advances FCC, FTC, NTIA Budgets With ECPA Amendment, Sans Net Neutrality
The House Appropriations Committee voted to advance FY 2018 Financial Services and Commerce budget bills, which include funding proposals for the FCC, FTC and NTIA. It cleared the budget Thursday with proposals for $322 million for the FCC and $306…
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million for the FTC intact, and the Commerce budget continued to include $30 million in proposed funding for NTIA (see 1706290073). The committee unanimously agreed to include an amendment in the Financial Services budget from Rep. Kevin Yoder, R-Kan., that would add the substance of his Email Privacy Act (HR-387) to the bill (see 1707140014). Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., failed to get a proposed amendment attached aimed at protecting FCC 2015 net neutrality rules. Congressional Democrats strongly opposed the NPRM on the 2015 rules and the related reclassification of broadband providers as common carriers. Serrano's amendment got vocal support from House Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee ranking member Mike Quigley, D-Ill., and other committee Democrats. Quigley and Reps. Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., and Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., supported the push for net neutrality legislation. Those statements contrast with opposition that House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and other telecom-focused Democratic lawmakers have declared to working with Republicans on net neutrality legislation before an expected court challenge of likely rollback of the 2015 rules (see 1707130063).