Civil rights groups want net neutrality to stay on Capitol Hill. The House’s failure to reach consensus on a net neutrality bill has led Congressional Democrats and some public interest groups to push the FCC to move forward with plans to reclassify broadband under Title II of the Communications Act (CD Sept 30 p9). But Friday, the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council and the Alliance for Digital Equality (ADE) urged the FCC to let Congress finish its work when members return in November. While failing to cross the finish line, House Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., found more consensus than anyone before, MMTC President David Honig told reporters. That shows a legislative answer is “within our grasp,” he said. “The commission certainly ought to be respectful of Congress’s valiant effort to resolve this, and should give Congress some more time” to work out a deal in the lame duck session or early next year. Some legislators and observers doubt Congress can pass a net neutrality bill in the lame duck session (CD Sept 30 p1), but Honig was optimistic. It’s an important enough issue for Congress to act on, because uncertainty over the issue is hurting the telecom sector, which represents one-tenth of the nation’s gross national product, Honig said. And lame-duck sessions often produce bipartisanship since members have finished their campaigns, he said. The net neutrality fight has drained FCC resources, and a Hill answer would also free up the commission to work on minority issues and other critical matters, added Honig. ADE Chairman Julis Hollis also urged Hill action. “By calling for reclassification, fringe groups are simply out of touch with what our communities really need, and that’s jobs and investment,” he said. “We cannot allow them to hijack this debate, nor can we allow overregulation by the FCC to impede this goal. It is up to Congress to take the reins and continue moving forward to enforce policies that focus on the creation of jobs and increased employment through the deployment of affordable access.” It’s unlikely the FCC will schedule a net neutrality vote this year, even if Congress can’t break a stalemate over the issue, Medley Global Advisors analyst Jeff Silva wrote Friday. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski “will likely wait until a new Congress is seated and assess the reconstituted political landscape before making any major move on open Internet policy,” the analyst said. He believes Genachowski would rather find a compromise on net neutrality, and “preferably with bipartisan congressional guidance,” than move forward on reclassification.
Free Press didn’t support the House net neutrality proposal that Republicans scuttled Wednesday (CD Sept 30 p1), President Josh Silver said in an interview. The public interest group believed that “introduction risked relieving the FCC chairman” of his duty to reclassify broadband transport under Title II of the Communications Act, and to make net neutrality rules, Silver said. Free Press is “relieved” that House Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., now is urging the FCC to act, he said. If FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski doesn’t fulfill Waxman’s request, “he will face an avalanche of public pressure.” In an e-mail to the Open Internet Coalition (OIC) before Wednesday’s announcement that no bill would be introduced, Silver threatened to pull out of the coalition if it issued a news release supporting the Waxman bill. “Free Press cannot afford to be misconstrued as supporting a bill that strips FCC rulemaking authority, fails to sufficiently protect wireless, and forecloses the agency’s ability to enact key goals” of the National Broadband Plan, “such as USF and low-income broadband deployment,” Silver wrote. “While we have deep respect for all of those from our community who worked tirelessly over the past few weeks on this effort, we have a strong disagreement with the assessment of this legislation as a positive, both on the merits and on the strategy. I don’t think the benefits of an OIC” news conference “in support of a doomed bill is worth the cost, but that’s not my call.” In a statement Wednesday, Waxman thanked the Consumer Federation of America (CFA), Consumers Union, Public Knowledge and the Center for Democracy & Technology, as well as AT&T, Verizon and NCTA, but not Free Press. The CFA praised the Waxman proposal. “Mr. Waxman’s bill would have created an important safety net to prevent the broadband Internet access landscape from being Balkanized by anti competitive pay walls and discriminatory technology barriers that block or degrade communications,” said Mark Cooper, the group’s research director.
A House deal on net neutrality suffered a major setback Wednesday when House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Joe Barton, R-Texas, and Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, opposed a legislative effort by Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif. Waxman had been waiting for Republicans to sign off on his draft bill and didn’t introduce anything before our deadline. The House planned to adjourn Wednesday night, unless the Senate hadn’t wrapped up the continuing spending resolution, and it won’t return until after the November elections, a House leadership aide said. Committee members Bart Stupak, D-Mich., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., told us they don’t expect net neutrality action during the lame-duck session.
Requiring FM chips in cellphones is a “great idea,” Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., told the NAB radio show Wednesday. The retiring member of the House Commerce Committee also reemphasized his support for a commercial auction of the D-block and opposition to legislation imposing performance royalties on broadcasters. Earlier, departing Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, said he doubted Congress would take up either the DISCLOSE Act or performance royalty legislation any time soon.
The Senate was notified by “hotline” Tuesday afternoon that a bipartisan bill to provide each FCC commissioner’s office an electrical engineer or computer scientist (S-2881) was set for unanimous consent passage unless a senator objected. The hotline deadline had not been reached at our deadline. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and is similar to HR-4809 by Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Calif. The Congressional Budget Office in April said the Senate bill would cost $7 million from 2011 to 2015 (CD April 9 p6).
House Democrats are now eyeing lame-duck passage of their net neutrality bill, two House staffers said Tuesday. House Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., may introduce the measure Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, they said Tuesday afternoon. Republicans were still reviewing the net neutrality draft bill Tuesday afternoon, House and industry officials said. Observers don’t expect Congress to pass the bill, but it could send a message to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski that he shouldn’t reclassify broadband under Title II of the Communications Act (CD Sept 28 p1).
The FCC wouldn’t be able to reclassify broadband under Title II of the Communications Act, under draft net neutrality legislation circulating in the House. The proposed law, which if enacted would sunset at the end of 2012, would allow the FCC only to adjudicate violations case by case, and would treat wireless and wireline networks differently. Discussions were ongoing Monday afternoon, with the details “still in a great amount of flux,” said a House staffer.
Members of the House continued to seek consensus Friday on a net neutrality deal (CD Sept 23 p10), but no one introduced a bill. Introduction is still possible next week, a House aide said, but time is running out for this Congress. The House is due to adjourn Oct. 8 but may leave a week early. A post-election session is possible. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Friday the House will be in session next week and not go home until it completes a continuing resolution on federal spending. “But the end of the fiscal year [is] September 30, and we've targeted all of our work to be finished by the end of the fiscal year,” she said.
The U.S. should find more commercial spectrum to promote mobile smart grid technologies, said wireless manufacturers at a Hill briefing Friday afternoon, hosted by the Telecommunications Industry Association. Spectrum is critical to new cellphone apps designed to help users conserve energy, said Jason Scism, a lobbyist for Research in Motion and former aide to Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. “More spectrum and allowing that spectrum to be used by marketplace demand would go a long way” to spurring smart-grid growth, agreed Qualcomm Vice President Dean Brenner. “Cellular networks are very well situated” to provide the communications platform for the smart grid, he said. Requiring utilities to provide consumers with machine-readable data about their energy usage would also promote the development of new smart grid devices and applications, said TIA energy consultant Joseph Andersen. That was a recommendation in the National Broadband Plan. Government incentives for buying and developing smart grid technologies, and a coordinated awareness campaign by the White House, utilities, and federal and state governments are other ways to promote adoption of smart grid equipment, Andersen said. The Qualcomm and RIM officials cited several smart grid tools that use cellular technology. Qualcomm is working on putting cellular technology into electric vehicle charging stations to help drivers find a location to charge up, Brenner said. RIM has an app that adjusts home heating and air-conditioning based on the user’s proximity to their home, Scism said.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., will hold as many hearings as it takes to pass his public safety bill, the Senate Commerce Committee chairman said at a hearing Thursday. He conceded Congress probably won’t pass legislation this year. His bill (S-3756) would give the 700 MHz D-block to public safety, and fund the network with money from incentive auctions of broadcaster spectrum. Ranking Member Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said she’s “prepared to support” the Rockefeller bill, but still has funding questions. Public Safety Bureau Chief Jamie Barnett maintained that the government should commercially auction the D-block.