Democrats Won't Negotiate on Net Neutrality Until Order Text Released, Thune Says
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., believes that legislative negotiation on net neutrality is largely on hold until the FCC releases the text of the order approved Feb. 26, he told reporters at the Capitol Tuesday. The senator said…
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he is still engaged in conversations with committee ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who had talked with Thune about the possibility since last year. “My impression all along is the Democrats are going to be reluctant to do anything with us legislatively until they see the order and can react to it and determine what some of the impacts could be,” Thune said. “I think it’s clear that it’s going to be litigated; I think you’re going to see lawsuits filed right away, which could tie this thing up in court for a long time.” That litigation creates “compelling reason” for Democrats and Republicans to join forces on what has thus far been a draft bill backed only by Republicans, Thune said. He and his GOP counterparts in the House circulated a draft text in January that would codify net neutrality protections while limiting FCC authority. “My guess is that in order to get something to the floor along the lines of what we’re talking about, we’d have to have some expectation that we could actually pass the bill and perhaps actually even get it signed,” Thune said, considering his discussions with GOP leadership. “I think moving a legislative solution is going to have to be bipartisan.” He distanced himself from what he called “partisan ways” to approach net neutrality, such as the many members who want to file a Congressional Review Act resolution against the rules or use appropriations riders. Thune, in a separate interview Monday, confirmed that snow caused the postponement of several private net neutrality stakeholder sessions last week (see 1503090033). “Hopefully we’ll get back on schedule,” said Thune. He scoffed at the snow, which “never amounts to anything. Everyone was panicked on Wednesday,” Thune remarked. “It slowed things down, but we’ll get back at it.”