House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Communications chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) gave a shout out to private industry in the wake of the President's speech touting municipal broadband and federal preemption of state laws limiting it.

“With precious dollars already stretched thin, state and local officials know better than beltway bureaucrats what’s best for their communities. We should applaud and encourage private investment to develop state-of-the-art broadband networks,” they said in a statement.

“The Internet is a great American success story that gets better by the day because of the billions of dollars that are invested every year to expand and improve broadband access and speeds, and because of limited federal government interference. That private investment is the engine that drives Internet innovation and brings high-speed Internet access to every corner of our country – a goal we all share.”

The President traveled to Cedar Falls, Iowa, to promote high-speed broadband and the Cedar Falls Utilities municipal system's 1 gig service. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has also signaled that he wants a February vote on a couple of petitions my municipalities to preempt state laws, a vote that will likely be in support of those petitions.

“Cedar Falls is a success story," the legislators said, "but not all communities have seen the same results. The history of municipal Internet access is littered with many costly failures that no one wants to repeat. We urge the commission to work with Congress through our CommActUpdate process to improve our laws, promote continued investment in Internet infrastructure, and spur competition."

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), the chairs of the Senate Commerce Committee and House Energy & Commerce Committee, respectively, say they are working on legislation that would protect against online discrimination and blocking and even paid prioritization without reclassifying Internet access under Title II.

Cable operators have argued they can live with some form of all of those rules, but not under Title II common carrier regs they say could be disastrous for innovation and investment. The White House is backing Title II and does not buy those arguments, according to an official who spoke to reporters Tuesday about the President's high-speed broadband initiatives.

"We need unambiguous rules of the road that protect Internet users and can help spur job creation and economic growth," they wrote. "The rules we propose would prohibit blocking and throttling (the selective slowing of data), and also ensure that Internet service providers could not charge a premium to prioritize content delivery."

That still leaves a chance for user-directed prioritization, which is one option for paid prioritization offered up one ISP.

But they ague that using Title II, which they brand Roosevelt-era utility regs, could result in billions in higher fees, be applied to mobile broadband, which faces unique network management challenges, and would almost certainly "perpetuate years of litigation and even more uncertainty for consumers and job creators."

In a co-bylined piece for Reuters, Thune (pictured) and Upton said they were working with both sides of the aisle on compromise rules, but any Democrats signing on would have to go against the President, who has said Title II is the way to go.