The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed an amendment to the continuing resolution that would prevent the Federal Communications Commission from using any federal funds to enforce the net neutrality rules it approved in December.
The following statements by technology policy experts at The Heartland Institute may be used for attribution.
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Bruce Edward Walker, managing editor of InfoTech & Telecom News, research fellow for technology policy at The Heartland Institute:
“The FCC’s authority to regulate the Internet was cut from whole cloth to begin with. Only Congress may grant such power over the Internet. Yesterday’s vote to block funding for the FCC’s net neutrality rules adopted in December is a stern congressional rebuke directed at Chairman Julius Genachowski and commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Michael Copps, reminding the FCC it cannot create rules, it can only enforce them.”
For more comments, contact Bruce Edward Walker at [email protected] or 989/430-5557.
Jim Lakely, co-director of the Center on the Digital Economy at The Heartland Institute:
“There has been a bipartisan consensus in Congress for years to stop the FCC from micromanaging the Internet via a strict net neutrality regime, so it’s good to see our elected representatives finally take a stand. Of course, the FCC forced Congress’s hand after it ignored the landmark Comcast v. FCC ruling in April 2010 and plowed ahead with regulations anyway.
“Keeping government bureaucrats from playing ‘Mother, May I?’ with the digital economy is vital if America is going to pull out of its current state of stagnation. Only when the technology sector feels confident about a lack of future regulation will investment and innovation regain its former brisk pace.”
For more comments, contact Jim Lakely at [email protected] or 312/377-4000.
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The Heartland Institute is a 27-year-old national nonprofit organization based in Chicago. Its mission is to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems. For more information, visit our Web site at http://www.heartland.org or call 312/377-4000.
Jim Lakely is the Vice President and Director of Communications of The Heartland Institute.
