Congress Should Resolve Net Neutrality Fight, Ehrlich Says
Congress needs to resolve net neutrality issues through compromise bipartisan legislation, insisted Ev Ehrlich, a former undersecretary of commerce during the Clinton administration, in a Monday op-ed for Roll Call. He now advises ISPs and is a fellow at the…
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Progressive Policy Institute. “Congress can cut this Gordian knot with ease, using its obvious power to pass new rules that create strong net neutrality policy without the excess baggage and uncertainty caused by Title II,” Ehrlich said. “Why go through years of litigation and the risk we end up right back where we started if the court sees things differently than the FCC (which it has already done twice on this very issue) when a simpler, cleaner, more stable answer is ready at the hand?” Ehrlich suggested legislation would create more enduring rules than what would come of the agency’s net neutrality order, to be voted on Feb. 26: “A 2016 Republican president would likely appoint an FCC chairman who would jettison the rules. Not going to the Congress for authority to impose neutrality is tantamount to an invitation -- a double-dog dare -- to do so.” Republicans have proposed draft legislation along the lines of what Ehrlich described, but Democrats warn that it includes loopholes and unnecessarily curtails FCC authority.