House Divided Over Net Neutrality Draft

The House Energy & Commerce Committee Communications Subcommittee spent over three hours Wednesday debating a proposed network neutrality legislation. The main takeaway was that there is no bipartisan agreement on the Republican-backed draft legislation, which would preempt the FCC's ability to reclassify ISPs under Title II.

Most Democrats on the committee took the opportunity to point out that Republicans appeared to be conceding that there was need for net neutrality rules, but most had major issues with the draft, and none came out in support of it in its current form.

Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), chair of the Subcommittee, and Fred Upton (R-Mich.), chair of the full committee, pointed out that many of the ideas in the draft — no blocking or discrimination and no paid prioritization — came from the first FCC Open Internet order proposed by then Democratic Chairman Julius Genachowski, and were things Democrats, including the President, had been calling for years.

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John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.