Labor & Employment Law

Net Neutrality Bill Stalls Without Republican Support

By Mike Hall

A proposed net neutrality bill that its backers had hoped to see introduced before Congress adjourned for the fall elections stalled after Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee refused to back the legislation despite weeks of negotiations. In a statement committee chairman Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) says:

This legislative initiative was predicated on going forward only if we had full bipartisan support in our committee?.With great regret, I must report that [ranking Republican member] Rep. Joe Barton (Tex.) has informed me that support for this legislation will not be forthcoming at this time.

This development is a loss for consumers and a gain only for the extremes.  We need to break the deadlock on net neutrality so that we can focus on building the most open and robust Internet possible.

Net neutrality, or open Internet, is a based on the principles of free speech, no blocking, no discrimination and transparency. George Kohl is Communications Workers of America (CWA) Senior Director for Policy.  He says the proposed legislation from Waxman and Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.), the Open Internet Act of 2010, protects consumers

by ensuring that there is no blocking of legal content, and that consumers are free to use any application on the Internet. The Open Internet Act of 2010 will enshrine net neutrality into law. As soon as we can put this debate behind us, we will be free to move forward to critical task of creating the 21st century infrastructure that will benefit all Americans.

CWA says the Waxman/Boucher plan to ensure an open Internet would break the gridlock around the net neutrality debate and shift focus to the investment that will finally allow the United States to catch up with the rest of the world while at the same time creating new good, family supporting jobs.

The lack of high speed broadband has real implications for our country’s economic growth, particularly for residents in rural areas and urban communities who need the medical monitoring and online education, as well as for communities that need broadband to survive. CWA has called for one gigabit of broadband service to anchor institutions?hospitals, schools and libraries?in every community, especially rural and poorer urban areas as a start.

For more information click here and here.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on October 01, 2010 (boomark / email).