Forbearances At Center of Debate on Save the Internet Act

Forbearances At Center of Debate on Save the Internet Act

Any hopes for a calm, bipartisan discussion on net neutrality regulations at House Commerce’s full committee markup Wednesday were quickly dashed as Rep Mike Doyle (D-PA) and ranking member Greg Walden (R-OR) duked it out over the Save the Internet Act (AKA “Title II 2.0”).

At the heart of the battle were the forbearance provisions that would be codified under the Save the Internet Act. The forbearances would permanently restrict the FCC from placing more than 700 regulations, most of which relate to Title II, on ISPs. And while Dems believe that should be enough to get Republicans on board, the minority continued to call for more information on exactly what those forbearances are.

“When we’re locking into statute forbearances, you would think we’d be able to get a list of those 700 forbearances so we know what we’re looking into the statute,” Walden said. “Let’s have transparency and divulge them,” Doyle called the focus on the list a delaying tactic by Republicans, saying they needed to worry about what is in the bill rather than what isn’t.

“I can’t image that many ISPs are sitting around with their attorneys saying ‘what doesn’t apply to us,’” Doyle argued.

Rep Anna Eshoo (D-CA) also called into question the focus on the list, asking Walden if having that information made available would be enough to have him support the Save the Internet Act. Walden was clear that he is no supporter of Title II, but still wanted to have the entirety of the information before the committee made any decision. Rep Morgan Griffith (R-VA) backed Walden, saying it was even more important that the information is made available to the public.

“I believe that when you’ve got a bill that’s going to lock into law 700 exceptions to the rule, the American people have a right to know and I have a duty to know,” Griffith said. For others in the minority, there were five critical people missing from the markup that should have been able to offer comment on the legislation. “The so-called Save the Internet Act is being rushed to the floor next week without the opportunity to ask questions of the FCC commissioners, who ostensibly this bill is going to put in charge of the internet,” Rep Bill Flores (R-TX) said.

Doyle was able to score at least one win during the markup as the committee approved an ISP exemption amendment. ISPs serving fewer than 100K customers would be exempt from an enhanced transparency rule related to performance characteristics and network practices from the 2015 Open Internet Order for one year.

After plenty of back and forth, one Republican said what some have been thinking since the Save the Internet Act was introduced: this is not the piece of bipartisan legislation folks are calling for.

“If we really want to address blocking, throttling and paid prioritization, we should at the end of the process have a bill that will pass the Senate and the president will sign,” Rep John Shimkus (R-IL) said. “Otherwise, this is just an exercise in futility.”

Prospects indeed look dim in the GOP-controlled Senate. As for the House, the Commerce committee was still debating the legislation at 5pm Wednesday (the markup began at 9:30am).

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This is super important. A key House committee is voting on the Save the Internet Act RIGHT NOW and we need Congress to know that the whole Internet is watching. Watch the live stream here:

Click here to tell your lawmakers to pass the Save the Internet Act with no bad amendments.

Unfortunately, telecom lobbyists have been working around the clock to try to derail the bill. Their main strategy right now is to punch it full of holes with bad amendments. So be sure to tell your rep to vote for a clean bill and oppose amendments that weaken it.

Taking action takes just a minute or two and it makes a huge difference.

The vote is imminent and we can’t afford to lose this one! If we pass the bill through the committee it will likely get a vote on the House floor next week. But if the bill is gutted through hostile amendments, then we’re back to square one.

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