Republicans stepped up their assault against the FCC’s controversial Net Neutrality order during a raucous House hearing on Wednesday. To be sure, Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), went so far as to accuse the FCC of “selectively applying [Net Neutrality] rules to broadband providers [and] shielding” specific Web companies.
”Such picking of winners and losers will stifle the investment needed to perpetuate the Internet’s phenomenal growth,” claimed the Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet.
Meanwhile, Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers told the hearing that the very idea of the Feds “getting the keys” to the Internet gate “scared” him to death.
But California Rep. Anna Eshoo, the ranking Democrat on the communications subcommittee, defended the FCC’s initiative and emphasized that without rules, large corporations could charge “a toll for content” and prevent surfers or potential competitors “from entering” the information superhighway.
“Consumers, not corporations, should pick the content they view, listen [to] and watch over the Internet,” she said.
As expected, the GOP – led by Walden – also introduced a (House) resolution of disapproval under the under the Congressional Review Act with an eye on repealing the FCC’s Open Internet order.
A similar Senate resolution was sponsored by Republican Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas and John Ensign of Nevada.
(Via Politico)
