FCC Chairman Wheeler Writes to Reps Upton and Pallone Regarding the Open Internet Order

On March 14, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler responded to a letter from House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) and Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-NJ) regarding the Open Internet Order.

Chairman Wheeler wrote, "I understand that the House Energy and Commerce Committee is about to markup HR 2666, the No Rate Regulation of Broadband Internet Access Act. There have been suggestions that the approach in this legislation is consistent with comments I made before the Senate Appropriations Committee [in 2015]. I want to state, respectfully, that it is not...[The] broad forbearance in the Open Internet Order was the basis of my comments to the Senate Appropriations Committee. Senator Boozman asked if I objected to Congress prohibiting the Commission from rate regulation. I responded that if Congress wanted to ensure that a future Commission would be unable to unforbear, I would have no difficulty with it. What I said then remains true today. If Congress in its wisdom decides to make doubly sure that the forbearance in the Open Internet Order is the law of the land, that is Congress's prerogative. But this bill does more than that. It would introduce significant uncertainty into the Commission's ability to enforce the three bright line rules that bar blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization rules, as well as our general conduct rule that would be applied to issues such as data caps and zero rating. It would also cast doubt on the ability of the Commission to ensure that broadband providers receiving universal service subsidies do not overcharge their consumers. Finally, it would hamstring aspects of the Commission's merger review process. I am committed to ensuring that forbearance today is forbearance tomorrow. But I write to make plain that this bill is not consistent with the views I expressed last year."