Another group of House Republicans pressed the FCC on possible process problems. House Commerce Committee leaders sent the FCC a letter Wednesday demanding a bevy of documents by March 4. “One area of ongoing concern is your office’s use of so-called ‘delegated authority,’” said the letter from Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Tim Murphy, R-Pa. “It is not appropriate for use with regard to new or novel questions of law or policy.” They cited several instances of the use of this authority, and criticized “a series of actions that call into question the openness and fairness of the Commission’s rulemaking processes,” questioning the timeliness by which the FCC chairman’s office provided copies of commission documents to other commissioners. The lawmakers also criticized the FCC’s delay on a congressional request for management and performance metrics last year. The committee learned in December, “nearly six months after the initial request,” that “such metrics were not available because they ceased being employed in the management of the agency’s largest bureau in 2009.” The FCC, under Wheeler, “is not sufficiently committed to fulfilling its obligation to operate independently, with processes that are open, fair and transparent,” they said. They requested documents on how the chairman’s office circulates documents to other commissioners and how that has changed under Wheeler, as well as documents about the agency’s compliance with the Administrative Procedure Act. They want to know what the Office of General Counsel advised on the use of delegated authority and the discretion of Wheeler to use it. They also asked about document retention policies. Walden is also expected to press the FCC on net neutrality at a Wednesday hearing and during a speech at American Enterprise Institute headquarters March 2.
The Los Angeles Times editorial board scoffed at the GOP investigations ongoing in both chambers about White House influence of net neutrality deliberations at the FCC. “Not to meddle in congressional affairs, but they're wasting their time,” the editorial said. “Over the years, presidents have regularly offered these agencies their views on proposed rules and policies. In fact, since the Clinton administration, agencies have been required to submit proposed rules to the White House to give the administration a chance to weigh in.”
The House Communications Subcommittee scheduled a net neutrality hearing for Feb. 25 at 10:30 a.m. in 2322 Rayburn, the day before FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler will hold a vote on his net neutrality order. "The closer we get to the FCC rubber stamping President [Barack] Obama's Internet grab, the more disturbing it becomes,” said subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., in a statement. “Consumers, innovators, and job creators all stand to lose from this misguided approach. What’s more, this plan sends the wrong signal around the globe that freedom and openness on the Internet are best determined by governments -- a far cry from decades of bipartisan commitment to light-touch regulation.” Witnesses weren’t announced.
Keep the government away from telecom, said House Communications Subcommittee Vice Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, in a resolution he introduced Friday. H.Res-113 aims to express “the sense of the House of Representatives that in order to continue aggressive growth in the Nation's telecommunications and technology industries, the United States Government should ‘Get Out of the Way and Stay Out of the Way,’” its title said. The resolution itself is under 350 words and resolves that the government should promote “investment through deregulation and free-market competition”; help make “additional spectrum available for commercial usage through unencumbered auctions, reallocation of Federal spectrum, and efficient spectrum sharing”; create a federal plan to transmit “high-quality, real-time voice, data, graphics, and video at increasingly higher speeds” to all people, “especially in rural and underserved areas”; make sure privacy is protected “without compromising marketplace efficiencies”; and help facilitate information sharing about cyberthreats. The resolution text emphasized the 96 million wireline broadband connections in the U.S. as well as the importance of wireless auctions in ensuring more than 197 million wireless broadband connections. It mentions the public-private partnerships that Connected Nation has sought to facilitate. The resolution says “deregulatory policies and free-market competition consistently yield a higher rate of economic growth, a greater standard of living for all Americans, and an enhanced capacity for the United States to be competitive in the global marketplace.” The resolution has no co-sponsors and was referred to the Commerce Committee. Latta has introduced the resolution before and it “represents his broad, strategic vision for the telecommunications industry,” Latta’s spokeswoman told us.
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Susan Crawford, a former Obama administration adviser and now a Harvard Law School visiting professor, rebuffed the idea of net neutrality legislation Tuesday. They hosted a Twitter Q&A together for an hour, using the hashtag #AskEdSusan. “Congress gave @FCC tools to protect an open Internet,” Markey told one questioner who asked about legislation. “Actually, we *have* a legislative solution for #NetNeutrality -- and it’s the current statute!” Crawford said, calling it “very durable.” They both back reclassification of broadband as a Communications Act Title II service, as FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s circulating order would do. Markey commended President Barack Obama for backing reclassification, when asked about White House influence. The U.S. “needs more competition & municipal broadband,” Markey said in one tweet. “Telco/cable lobby fighting entire *idea* of oversight,” Crawford argued. “Totally logical from their perspective.” Markey has been posting countdowns to the FCC vote on Feb. 26 on his Twitter account. “No Internet fast & slow lanes created by broadband barons,” Markey tweeted in one update. “8 days until Internet Freedom Day.”
A Congressional Research Service report said the net neutrality debate is “more nuanced” this Congress than in the past. The report, dated Feb. 5, traces the history of proposed broadband regulation legislation, including the bills introduced and considered in the current Congress, such as the GOP draft net neutrality bill. Telecom policy specialist Angele Gilroy wrote the 23-page report. “Regardless of the outcome” of the FCC’s Feb. 26 vote on net neutrality, “it is anticipated that the issue of access to broadband networks will be of continued interest to policy makers,” CRS said. The report also delves into usage-based billing and the National Broadband Plan. “The move by some network broadband operators towards the use of metered or usage-based billing has caused considerable controversy,” CRS said.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, remixed a recent speech lambasting Communications Act Title II reclassification and FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s net neutrality approach, adding a music background to his speech in a video released Friday. “The principle I’m going to suggest to you is don’t mess with the Internet,” said Cruz, a member of the Commerce Committee. “Title II, as I think you know, was designed for public utilities. … I want you to think for a second about the idea of taking an 81-year-old law and applying it to something no one could possibly have envisioned.” He cited the 332-page draft net neutrality order that no one outside the Commission can yet see, mentioning FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai holding up the big document. He also suggested the order would bring about billions in new taxes, a highly contested claim. “Do not accept the promise of Washington politicians who are telling all of us, ‘If you like the Internet, you can keep your Internet,’” Cruz warned.
David Quinalty, GOP tech and telecom policy director for the Senate Commerce Committee, spoke to tech stakeholders in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Friday and gave a speech similar to one Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., gave at Lincoln Labs’ Reboot Congress event last week (see 1502120059). In what was often the same language as Thune, Quinalty described the problems with Communications Act Title II reclassification of broadband and the need for Thune’s net neutrality legislation. “Finding a legislative solution,” he said at the Trendigital summit, “is a top priority for the senator.” He joked initially that the BlackBerry is “not quite dead” on Capitol Hill and is the device of choice for Thune and “the majority of my colleagues.” Quinalty also warned of “numerous proposals” floated at the FTC and elsewhere that pose a danger in the realm of online privacy. He spoke favorably on data breach notification legislation. “This is something that Senator Thune is working on right now,” Quinalty said. He, like Thune, warned about forthcoming White House privacy legislation. He also stressed Thune’s role on the Finance Committee and his commitment to overhauling the tax code, which he said will help these businesses.
More spending on E-rate is necessary, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said, agreeing with Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J. “Closing this connectivity gap requires raising the E-rate spending cap,” Wheeler said in a Jan. 23 letter to Booker, which the agency released Thursday. “Our December Modernization Order makes more funding available for schools and libraries to purchase broadband connectivity capable of delivering speeds up to 1 Gbps over the next five years. We have looked long-term to forecast the funding needs going forward and based the new $3.9 billion spending cap on those forecasts.” He echoed that message in letters to Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken, both Minnesota Democrats, the same day, plus one to Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis. “As you note, the increase may over time require Americans to contribute approximately 16 cents a month for a telephone line -- annually about the cost of a cup of coffee at Dunkin' Dunkin [sic] Donuts,” Wheeler wrote.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler "will propose enhancements" to the existing net neutrality transparency rule in the order circulated Feb. 5, he said in a Feb. 4 letter to bipartisan lawmakers from both chambers, released by the agency last week. “That rule, which empowers consumers to make informed choices about broadband services, already requires broadband providers to disclose the commercial terms of a consumer's broadband service, including any data caps or allowances. Because it provides a basis for enforcement where appropriate, the existing transparency rule provides us with an even more effective tool than a voluntary code of conduct would. I am confident that the transparency rule -- as it exists already today and as I hope it will be enhanced moving forward -- will help to ensure that consumers are protected from harmful practices.” Wheeler spent much of the letter discussing how the FCC is monitoring the usage of data caps among providers. The agency will look at whether usage caps “affect future determinations of whether ‘advanced telecommunications capability’ is available to all Americans” in its next Broadband Progress Report, Wheeler said. “Usage-based limits also are an important factor in determining services that are eligible for support under the FCC's Connect America Fund program.” The agency is monitoring complaints regarding usage-based systems for fixed providers now, he added: The “Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau is streamlining the process of synthesizing and analyzing consumer complaint trends and will make more of that data readily accessible to the public. We will use this enhanced capability to monitor customer complaints closely, to identify any problems associated with the use of data caps and other usage-based pricing measures, and to take action where appropriate.”