GOP Still Pushing For Courts to Kill Net Neutrality There's a common refrain among ISPs and opponents of net neutrality in the Senate: the FCC's new rules should be scrapped and it should be up to Congress to craft new ones. There's a reason they argue that: they know that Congress is so mired in partisan bickering and campaign contributions that it will never craft meaningful net neutrality rules.

That the courts should kill net neutrality and wait for Congress to inevitably do nothing was once again the logic at play in a filing against net neutrality this week by 23 Republican representative, lead by Marsha Blackburn. "Congress certainly did not leave (and would never have left) this issue of great national importance to be decided by the FCC, as it 'would bring about an enormous and transformative expansion in [the agency’s] regulatory authority without clear congressional authorization,'" the representatives argued. Except the FCC has repeatedly stated that it has the authority to classify ISPs as common carriers -- and institute new rules -- as granted by the Communications Act of 1934 and the 1996 revision to it. That's something that ISPs have sued the FCC over in court, though a final ruling isn't expect until sometime in the middle of 2016. ISP allies (read: campaign cash recipients) in Congress meanwhile have been trying ISP allies (read: campaign cash recipients) in Congress meanwhile have been trying anything in their power to strip away both FCC authority and funding to no avail. The best bet for opponents of net neutrality is the 2016 elections, the winner of which will be empowered to either keep Wheeler (and the rules) in place, or appoint a new FCC boss who'll quickly look toward dismantling the rules if the lawsuit doesn't work.







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Most recommended from 29 comments



tshirt

Premium Member

join:2004-07-11

Snohomish, WA 11 recommendations tshirt Premium Member I can certainly agree with... ...the statement

"Congress certainly did not leave (and would never have left) this issue of great national importance to be decided by the FCC,..."

BUT by failing to act in a timely manner, the forced they FCC to adopt some sort of interim rules.

Congress needs to get to work on any changes they deem necessary, while using the FCC as a technical advisor.



yet another failure by those too willing to play politics, so they can avoid working on actual governance (and they still get a pay check!) grabacon9

join:2013-08-21

Spencer, IN 6 recommendations grabacon9 Member GOP = Low Lives I hope that they can just shove it.

Flyonthewall

@teksavvy.com 6 recommendations Flyonthewall Anon Keep flashing to Idiocracy When I hear about these baby crying lawsuits to prevent pro-consumer rules I keep thinking about Not Sure and his depiction in court in the movie Idiocracy...cause that's really how the courts should respond to these BS suits. smk11

join:2014-11-12 5 recommendations smk11 Member Why would anyone expect different? Neocon "fix old, no new" is a highly profitable strategy for businesses. Do whatever possible to delay any legislation that affects the bottom line. wispalord

join:2007-09-20

Farmington, MO 3 recommendations wispalord Member so they just admited .... that they don't care about the end user they care about the bottom dollar and will pay off who ever is necessary to make it happen.