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Technology Daily

House Telecom Bill Delayed Over 'Net Neutrality' Issue

By Drew Clark

(Monday, May 1) After initially being scheduled for consideration by the full House later this week, legislation to grant the former regional Bell operating companies quick entry into the pay television market was pulled from the the week's floor schedule Monday by the Republican leadership.

The House Judiciary Committee has sought a referral of the telecom bill that cleared the Energy and Commerce panel last week, particularly for its "network neutrality" language -- and the delay is likely to work to the Judiciary panel's advantage. Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and ranking member John Conyers, D-Mich., 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, a spokesman for House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, while adding that the House leadership wants to "let these kind of events play out first."

The House Energy and Commerce Committee approved the telecom bill last Wednesday on a 42-12 vote. It was largely authored by Energy and Commerce Chairman Joe Barton, R-Texas -- who sought to draft its text in an effort to avoid having the measure fall into the Judiciary Committee's jurisdiction.

Despite significant Democratic support on final passage in the Energy and Commerce panel, Democrats and Republicans largely voted along party lines when it came to key amendments.

Congressional and industry sources said Republican leaders are worried that voting against a network neutrality amendment -- designed to 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 net 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 are seeking tougher regulations, and their efforts appear to be gaining steam. They want specific prohibitions on charging other businesses for the ability to transmit data and for preferentially higher speeds.

Cable operators and the Bells are opposing such requirements on how they sell Internet service.

The anti-discrimination language is an aspect of an amendment by Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., that failed in the Energy and Commerce Committee on a 34-22 vote last week. It is also part of a bill introduced by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., as well as draft legislation authored by by Sens. 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 surrounding the legislation. 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 Justice Department's Antitrust Division the authority to sue over such practices, as well as enable private lawsuits.

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