Proving once again that no one is neutral about net neutrality, Congressman Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee has thrown in the towel on a compromise measure of how--or if--the Internet should be regulated and tossed regulation back into the hands of the FCC.
Waxman, a California Democrat who, like the rest of his elected brethren is headed home looking for votes, had floated a plan that would serve as an interim step to impose some traffic management rules on wireline broadband providers while Congress gave the matter more complete study. The idea, which would have removed the FCC from the regulatory equation, didn't fly in a polarized legislature.
"This legislative initiative was predicated on going forward only if we had full bipartisan support in our Committee," Waxman was quoted in a statement. "With great regret, I must report that Ranking Member (Joe) Barton (a Texas Republican) has informed me that support for this legislation will not be forthcoming at this time."
Lacking support in the House, Waxman threw his muscle behind a more active FCC effort to set telecommunications policy. "We need to break the deadlock on net neutrality so we can focus on building the most open and robust Internet possible," Waxman concluded.
For more:
- see this story
Related articles:
Proposed Net Neutrality Legislative Framework
Draft net neutrality legislation emasculates FCC
FCC still considering reclassification for net neutrality
AT&T, Verizon join Google in net neutrality group