Nate-ForLiberty
06-09-2010, 12:18 PM
By Todd Shields
June 9 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski defended his plan to regulate Internet service providers as a Republican lawmaker said he would attempt to block the effort.
Genachowski wants the FCC to assert jurisdiction over Web- access providers using rules imposed on telephone companies. His proposal is a reaction to a U.S. court ruling in April that said the agency lacked authority to regulate companies that provide Web access.
“We need to restore the status quo” from before the April court ruling, Genachowski said. He said he favors “light- touch” regulation.
Jurisdiction over service providers would give the FCC a foundation for rules to bar providers from interfering with subscribers’ Web traffic, and to direct a telephone subsidy fund to providing more Internet connections.
“You don’t have the authority to do what you’re attempting to do,” Representative John Culberson, a Texas Republican, said today at a hearing of the financial services subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee. Culberson said he would try to bar the FCC from spending money to regulate Internet access providers.
Genachowski said the FCC has the authority to write rules for Internet service providers such as Comcast Corp. and AT&T Inc. The FCC is scheduled to vote June 17 on taking public comments on Genachowski’s proposal.
Congressional Response
Two other Republican members of the subcommittee that oversees the FCC’s budget joined Culberson in questioning Genachowski’s assertion of regulatory authority.
“This administration is trying to regulate every aspect of our lives,” Culberson said in an interview after the hearing.
Last month, 74 House Democrats wrote to Genachowski and said they have “serious concerns” with his proposal, and 171 House Republicans said applying telephone rules could bring “severe” consequences, including less investment.
Representative Jose Serrano, a New York Democrat who chairs the subcommittee, said today many lawmakers believe Genachowski has legal authority “and should use it.”
“This chairman would rather you upset some members of Congress when you defend the rights of the American people as consumers, than to wait around,” Serrano said.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-09/fcc-defends-internet-regulation-plan-at-congressional-meeting.html
June 9 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski defended his plan to regulate Internet service providers as a Republican lawmaker said he would attempt to block the effort.
Genachowski wants the FCC to assert jurisdiction over Web- access providers using rules imposed on telephone companies. His proposal is a reaction to a U.S. court ruling in April that said the agency lacked authority to regulate companies that provide Web access.
“We need to restore the status quo” from before the April court ruling, Genachowski said. He said he favors “light- touch” regulation.
Jurisdiction over service providers would give the FCC a foundation for rules to bar providers from interfering with subscribers’ Web traffic, and to direct a telephone subsidy fund to providing more Internet connections.
“You don’t have the authority to do what you’re attempting to do,” Representative John Culberson, a Texas Republican, said today at a hearing of the financial services subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee. Culberson said he would try to bar the FCC from spending money to regulate Internet access providers.
Genachowski said the FCC has the authority to write rules for Internet service providers such as Comcast Corp. and AT&T Inc. The FCC is scheduled to vote June 17 on taking public comments on Genachowski’s proposal.
Congressional Response
Two other Republican members of the subcommittee that oversees the FCC’s budget joined Culberson in questioning Genachowski’s assertion of regulatory authority.
“This administration is trying to regulate every aspect of our lives,” Culberson said in an interview after the hearing.
Last month, 74 House Democrats wrote to Genachowski and said they have “serious concerns” with his proposal, and 171 House Republicans said applying telephone rules could bring “severe” consequences, including less investment.
Representative Jose Serrano, a New York Democrat who chairs the subcommittee, said today many lawmakers believe Genachowski has legal authority “and should use it.”
“This chairman would rather you upset some members of Congress when you defend the rights of the American people as consumers, than to wait around,” Serrano said.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-09/fcc-defends-internet-regulation-plan-at-congressional-meeting.html