Proposed funding requires strict regulations related to FCC regulatory power
WASHINGTON – The proposed federal budget recently released by the U.S. House of Representatives cuts Federal Communications Commission funding and effectively puts the brakes on the net neutrality debate, at least until the legal challenges are resolved.
The FCC received $315 million in funding, $73 million below what the agency requested for the upcoming fiscal year. Language in the bill specifically forbids the FCC from using any of its allocated funds to “implement, administer, or enforce” the Open Internet Order released in February.
Sections of the bill also specifically ban the FCC from regulating rates for standard broadband service or wireless service. Should the courts rule in favor of the FCC, the bill stipulates that the FCC cannot use funds to implement rules unless they post the text of the regulation online within 21 days.
The net neutrality issue has devolved from a nuanced discussion on the future of the Internet to a partisan slug fest.
Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) said, “The majority doesn’t like the outcome of the FCC’s net neutrality decision, and they will use every tool they can to bring the agency to a standstill.”
This has included an FCC reform bill that proponents say is designed to make the agency more transparent. Stipulations in this bill, which has been approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, included clauses that the FCC will need to publish the text of any rule or other action no later than 24 hours after the chairman circulates it to the commissioners.
Another section requires the commission to publish a description of any order completed at the bureau level. Conservatives say these reforms are necessary while detractors claim it creates unneeded bureaucracy, which slows down the process and puts extra pressure on the FCC’s limited staff and budget.
Net neutrality will go into effect on June 12th unless federal judges rule otherwise. Currently, AT&T, CenturLink, US Telecom and CTIA are all suing the FCC in federal court to have the order stopped or overturned.
For his part, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has called the Open Internet Order “the most stringent and expansive open Internet rules in history. That’s why this decision was so damn important.”
“Whether those comments were for or against the net neutrality rules,” he continued, “I think that the bulk of the comments indicated how, when you’re talking about the Internet, you’re talking about something very personal to people. And they then used that personal medium of theirs to express themselves. That was what was significant.”
The FCC and Wheeler personally have faced criticism from both the telecom industry and from within the FCC.
Verizon Communications CEO Lowell McAdam released an open letter in March, which said the FCC had taken its influence to “absurd new levels.”
FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai laid the blame for net neutrality squarely at the White House door: “Read my lips more taxes are coming.” In addition to that comment, he released a six-page brief outlining his dissent in which he said, “To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, President Obama’s plan to regulate the Internet isn’t the solution to a problem. His plan is the problem.”
It remains to be seen if the House attempt to undermine the FCC will become law or if the courts will uphold the net neutrality decision. One thing remains clear: the net neutrality debate, which has mostly raged within the confines of the Beltway bubble, will define the telecommunication industry in the U.S. for the next decade and possibly longer.
