Doyle, Eshoo Urge House Colleagues to Oppose FCC Net Neutrality Rules Repeal

Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., spoke on the House floor Friday to urge her colleagues to oppose the FCC's draft order to rescind its 2015 net neutrality rules. Meanwhile, House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Mike Doyle, D-Pa., was seeking fellow House members' signatures on a draft letter he intends to send to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai urging him to delay consideration of the draft order, which the commission is to vote on at its Dec. 14 meeting (see 1711210020 and 1711220026). Congressional Democrats have strongly opposed the proposal since its late November release, cementing expectations that Capitol Hill won't be able to reach a legislative compromise on net neutrality during this Congress (see 1711210041 and 1711270054). “The internet belongs to all of us, not just the big ISPs,” Eshoo said Friday. She warned that the draft order “removes the FCC as the cop on the beat” on net neutrality, meaning there would be “nothing to stop” ISPs from “slowing or blocking a website or charging consumers more to access certain content.” The existing net neutrality rules “have been upheld in Federal Court and public opinion polls show strong support from all sides of the political spectrum,” Doyle said in a letter seeking colleagues' signatures on his pending Pai missive. “During the FCC’s public comment process to repeal the Open Internet Order, the Commission received more than 22 million comments that overwhelmingly called for the Commission to leave the current rules in place.”