Save Access

Technology Daily

House Telecom Bill Stalls Over 'Net Neutrality' Vote
By Drew Clark

(Monday, May 1) Legislation to grant Bell telephone companies quick entry into the pay-television market will not be on the House floor this week, aides to Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, confirmed.

The House Judiciary Committee has sought a referral of the bill, particularly for its "network neutrality" language. The delay is likely to work to Judiciary's advantage. Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and ranking Democrat John Conyers of Michigan have drafted their own version of net neutrality legislation, which they are expected to release this week.

"Judiciary has requested jurisdiction on it, and the parliamentarians are getting ready to wade in," said Kevin Madden, an aide to Boehner. The House leadership wants to "let these kind of events play out first."

The Energy and Commerce Committee approved the telecom bill Wednesday on a 42-12 vote. It was authored by panel Chairman Joe Barton, R-Texas. Despite significant Democratic support on final passage, Democrats and Republicans largely voted for amendments along party lines.

Congressional and industry sources said Republican leaders are worried that voting against a network neutrality amendment -- one that would keep dominant Bell and cable companies from charging competitors more to transmit high-speed Internet content -- could be a political liability. Some technology companies and public-interest groups want FCC-enforceable regulations barring Bell and cable companies from undermining neutrality.

Barton included a lighter form of net neutrality rules within his bill. It would grant adjudicatory but not regulatory authority against Bell or cable efforts to block or degrade Internet traffic. But the technology companies want tough regulations, and their efforts appear to be gaining steam. They seek specific prohibitions on charging other businesses for the ability to transmit data and for preferentially higher speeds.

That anti-discrimination language is an aspect of an amendment by Edward Markey, D-Mass., that failed in committee on a 22-34 vote. It is also part of a bill by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and draft legislation by Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.

"We are trying to explain that a vote for a telecom bill that does not address the issue of network neutrality in any way is a very difficult vote politically, closer to the election, for Republicans," said former Rep. Vin Weber, R-Minn., who was hired by technology companies to lobby his former colleagues on the subject.

"There is huge grassroots constituency for the net neutrality position: all sorts of Internet users," said Weber. "It is a big and powerful constituency, but it is not necessarily an organized constituency. I would not like to cast a vote that can be portrayed by bloggers and others as a vote against the Internet."

The Sensenbrenner-Conyers draft could further complicate the politics. As with the Markey, Wyden and Snowe/Dorgan approaches, it would prohibit businesses from charging for the ability to preferentially transmit data, House sources said.

But rather than granting authority to the FCC, the Sensenbrenner-Conyers language would give the antitrust division of the Justice Department the authority to sue over such practices, as well as enable private lawsuits.

Two other Judiciary members, Rick Boucher, D-Va., and Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., are working on similar legislation.