Appropriations Bill Would Block Net Neutrality Rules

A DC federal appeals court has yet to rule on staying the Federal Communications Commission's Title II reclassification of Internet service providers, but Congressional Republicans were trying to implement a legislative stay in a bill that would also cut the FCC's budget substantially, force publication of FCC drafts and prevent any new network neutrality rules from leading to rate regulation.

The just-released Financial Services Bill out of the House Appropriations Committee gives the FCC $315 million, a cut of $25 million from FY 2015 and a whopping $73 million below its request for 2016. But none of that money can be used to implement the FCC's new network neutrality rules until the court challenge is resolved. That is according to a summary of the bill released by the committee. The legislation prohibits the FCC from implementing net neutrality until certain court cases are resolved, requires newly proposed regulations to be made publicly available for 21 days before the Commission votes on them, and prohibits the FCC from regulating rates for either wireline or wireless Internet service.