Telecom Law Overhaul Hit by 'Atomic Bomb' of Net Neutrality

Republican Representatives are beginning to acknowledge that their ambitious dream of overhauling the nation's core communications law is unlikely to be realized anytime soon. And the culprit, they say, is network neutrality. "Net neutrality certainly was a mini-atomic bomb in the middle of it," said House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR). Chairman Walden emphasized that he's "not ready to throw in the towel" on piecemeal updates of the Communications Act, the foundational law for regulation of the Internet, television, and telephone industries. But he admitted that the bitter partisan divide over net neutrality has made any comprehensive rewrite difficult. The prospects aren't any brighter in the Senate. "[Net neutrality has] definitely made it a more difficult environment to do significant telecom updates or reforms," said Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD).

Republican Representatives consider the net neutrality rules a government power grab that will stifle investment in broadband networks. This meansit will be difficult for Republicans to rewrite the Communications Act without first settling the issue of how much authority the Federal Communications Commission has over the Internet. And the prospects for significant legislation dim as the 2016 presidential election draws close. Harold Feld, the senior vice president of Public Knowledge and a net-neutrality supporter, argued that there's plenty of common ground that lawmakers could find rewriting the Communications Act. But, he said, Republican Representatives will have to first give up their crusade against net neutrality. He accused the Republicans on the House Commerce Committee of only fueling the partisan flames by passing a bill that would require the FCC to do more of its work in public. "They can call net neutrality a 'bomb,' but they don't seem to be calling in the bomb squad to defuse it," he said.