Rick Boucher
Bruce P. Mehlman
Jamal Simmons
Featured Members
Broadband Fact Book
Start-Up Savings
10 Benefits of Health IT
How Broadband Helps Rural Communities
10 Ways Being Online Saves You Money
Achieving Universal Broadband
The National Broadband Plan
The Digital Divide
Jobs and Investment
March Madness in Bytes
Sign the Petition
Internet Past & Future
Back to School Webinar
Telepsychiatry Webinar
IIA Broadband Symposium
IIA Internet Academy
Press Releases
Most Recent PostsReactions From Capitol Hill
In the wake of the FCC’s loss in federal appeals court on Tuesday, The Hill reports that early reactions on Capitol Hill are so far breaking along partisan lines. First up, a statement from Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas):
The DC Circuit’s decision should mean that litigation plays out to a logical conclusion and in the meantime, the FCC should not reclassify information services as Title 2 services... The guiding principle is already explicit in the 1996 Telecommunications Act, where the government is directed ‘to preserve the vibrant and competitive free market that presently exists for the Internet and other interactive computer services, unfettered by Federal or State regulation.’”
On the other side of the Title II debate is Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass):
This is a history-making decision. It appears to vacate the authority of the FCC to conduct oversight over broadband service and the telephone and cable giants that own the wires... I am not advocating that the FCC reclassify broadband services as a result of this decision, but I absolutely believe they maintain that legal authority and it would be entirely consistent with the history of communications law in our country if they did.
