Waxman Warns Next Congress Against Spoiling Telecom Rewrite With Net Neutrality Repeal
House Commerce Committee ranking member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., sees the potential for a Capitol Hill net neutrality debate to upend any attempt to overhaul the Communications Act, he said. House and Senate Republicans have said they want to update the act, with a focus in earnest set for next Congress.
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“If the Republican approach is to repeal the [FCC’s net neutrality] rule, I think it would be very difficult,” Waxman said Tuesday at the National Press Club at an event hosted by The Capitol Forum. He said he suspects such a GOP move would provoke uproar from Democrats and the public. “There can be a rewrite of the act without that being resolved," he said. "People would have to sort it out and see if they can find a spot where they can come together."
Waxman had a 40-year career in Congress and is retiring after this term. His speech was probably the last he will deliver as a member of Congress, he said. The House already has recessed, and Waxman has cast his final votes. When he announced his retirement early this year, several observers emphasized the void he would leave on telecom policy, with labels like “bulldog” freely offered (see 1401310044). Waxman's departure set up a contentious battle for Commerce ranking member, with Frank Pallone, D-N.J., ultimately beating Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif.
Net neutrality has dominated Waxman’s recent years. He met with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler in November, as a recent exchange of letters showed (see 1412080048). Earlier this fall, he proposed the FCC create net neutrality rules based on hybrid legal authority, drawing on Communications Act Title II and Section 706 and forbearing from significant portions of Title II. That idea provoked a backlash from ISPs that argued his plan would be unsustainable (see 1410030026).
A Communications Act overhaul “doesn’t happen overnight, but it is possible,” Waxman said. It’s “not so difficult” to find bipartisan areas in telecom, but net neutrality “would be a real sticking point,” with real partisan divides that have become evident, he said. There’s “an argument” to be made for an update given “such a convergence in the industry,” with rules in the Communications Act applied to cable operators, for instance, and not to companies offering similar service. “There’s a real chance, but we’ll have to wait and see,” he said of the overhaul. It would need to have “bipartisan support and involvement from the start,” he said.
“I believe the agency is poised to act early next year,” Waxman said of the FCC’s net neutrality rulemaking process. “Undoubtedly that’ll be challenged.” But he believes the D.C. Circuit Court decision that vacated earlier FCC net neutrality rules “suggested using Title II in some way,” he said, potentially giving new rules involving Title II a stronger foundation.
President Barack Obama’s backing of Title II reclassification last month may spur GOP backlash, though Republicans “didn’t like net neutrality before President Obama talked about it,” Waxman said. “We have a pattern in the last six years -- whatever President Obama is for, the Republicans are against.”
He seemed dubious Capitol Hill could move ahead with legislation and questioned what Republicans would replace net neutrality rules with if they repeal whatever the FCC comes up with. He remembered his own attempts to legislate the issue in 2010 and the Republican objections. They would need “something that could win supporters across the aisle” if trying to legislate in that space and would be “legislating in light of a rule” at the FCC, he said.
The next Congress will have multiple strong leaders in telecom, Waxman said. He named Reps. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., and Mike Doyle, D-Pa., and also said Eshoo “has felt very strongly” about net neutrality. The one Republican he mentioned was Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., who lost his re-election bid and won't be part of the House in the next Congress, which Waxman also observed.
In his keynote, Waxman said it’s an “exciting time to be involved in communications issues” and rattled off several major developments -- the need for high-speed broadband and the rise of over-the-top video, creating demand for it; the major industry consolidation proposals such as Comcast’s buy of Time Warner Cable and AT&T’s of DirecTV; and the dearth of and need for requisite competition in this space, with most households able to avail themselves of only two fixed broadband providers “at best,” he said. Amid all the developments, “it’s no wonder we are in the midst of a new golden age for video,” he said.