White House Objects to Net Neutrality, Set-Top House Riders Before Floor Consideration
The House Rules Committee deemed 70 of the 139 amendments filed to the Financial Services bill in order Tuesday and up for floor consideration, including all telecom amendments except the Lifeline budget cap amendment. Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., withdrew that Lifeline amendment. The Obama administration “strongly opposes” the FY 2017 funding bill and President Barack Obama’s senior advisers would recommend a veto, the White House said in a statement.
Scheduling for Financial Services bill votes was uncertain Wednesday due to a House Democratic-led sit-in on the chamber floor to press for gun control votes. A Democratic leadership aide told us Monday Democrats would be urged to vote against the Financial Services funding bill (see 1606200049). The Senate companion funding bill provides a higher level of FY 2017 funding for the FCC and lacks many of the partisan telecom policy riders -- notably ones to curb the net neutrality order and FCC process -- that frustrate House Democrats.
Commerce Committee Vice Chairwoman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., succeeded at securing floor consideration for a revised version of her amendment to forbid funding “being used to implement, administer or enforce any of the rules proposed in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking adopted by the FCC on March 31, 2016 (FCC 16-39), intended to regulate consumer privacy obligations as necessitated by the FCC’s net neutrality regime.” Another GOP amendment deemed in order would prevent funding “to implement, administer, or enforce a new regulatory action of $100 million or more.” Democratic amendments deemed in order include one that would strike the rider meant to freeze implementation of the net neutrality order while litigation is pending and another that would stop any funds from contravening Communications Act Section 317, addressing broadcast disclosure sponsorship. Also in order is an amendment that would increase FTC funding by $1 million to boost Do Not Call enforcement and telemarketing education outreach.
The administration singled out provisions preventing the FCC “from promoting a free and open internet and encouraging competition in the set-top box market, impacting millions of broadband and cable customers” at the top of its statement and included a stronger critique in a section on the FCC. “The Administration strongly opposes the deep reductions to the funding level for FCC, which is $53 million, or 14 percent, below the FY 2017 Budget request,” the White House said. “These reductions unnecessarily force FCC to scale back important work on public safety and wireless spectrum, delay efforts to modernize IT systems, and undermine efforts to save the taxpayers money by consolidating office space and improving oversight of the Universal Service Fund. The Administration objects to the $106 million cap on auction program funding, which is $18 million, or 15 percent, below the FY 2017 Budget request. This would severely harm the FCC's efforts to modernize its auction infrastructure to support the increasingly complex auctions of the future, which have the potential to return tens of billions of dollars to the U.S. Treasury.”
The White House devoted much text to defending the net neutrality order and set-top proceeding. “These carefully-designed rules have already been implemented in large part with little to no impact on the telecommunications companies making important investments in the U.S. economy,” the administration said of net neutrality rules. The set-top rider, which would mandate the FCC pause its set-top proceeding while further study is done, “aims at delaying the FCC from adopting or enforcing new rules to open the video set-top market to additional competition,” the administration said. “The FCC is already committed to a lengthy, thorough rulemaking process that would establish a robust record of comment and analysis from companies, non-profit organizations, and academics. The current provision unnecessarily interferes with these long-established processes by requiring a delay of at least 270 days, and probably much longer, and a redundant, potentially costly study.”
“These riders have turned into the new earmarks,” Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee ranking member Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., said during the Tuesday Rules Committee meeting. He told us earlier he objected to the GOP ISP privacy and Lifeline amendments (see 1606210067).
The funding bill “on the House floor today is still loaded with attacks on people’s communications rights,” Free Press Policy Director Matt Wood said in a statement, pleased with the withdrawal of the Lifeline floor amendment but still displeased overall. “Congressional leaders are hell-bent on rolling back the FCC’s successful Net Neutrality rules, preventing the agency’s broadband privacy proposal from moving forward, and stalling the agency’s cable-box reforms. In all three cases, the FCC is following the pro-consumer and competition laws that Congress passed on an overwhelming bipartisan basis.” Free Press also slammed appropriators in a separate blog post.