Congress could move a step closer to rejecting the Federal Communications Commission’s plan to regulate the Internet this week when the Senate considers a resolution targeting the agency’s net neutrality rule. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) introduced the measure, S.J. Res. 6, to halt the FCC from implementing the regulation. The Congressional Review Act gives lawmakers the authority to overrule regulations from government agencies. Hutchison’s resolution simply states: “That Congress disapproves the rule submitted by the Federal Communications Commission relating to the matter of preserving the open Internet and broadband …
The Senate is slated to take up a resolution of disapproval next week that would prevent the Federal Communications Commission from regulating the Internet. With the economy still dominating the national political agenda, Senate Republicans are pointing to the measure’s expected impact on job growth. Net Neutrality regulations, explained Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) at Heritage’s Bloggers Briefing, would set up the FCC as the Internet’s “gatekeeper”: many innovations in the way the Internet is accessed and used would have to be approved by the 5-member panel to ensure they …
In his new book Democracy Denied, Phil Kerpen, vice president at Americans for Prosperity, unravels the extraordinary power grab by the Obama Administration with startling detail. Kerpen explains how Obama is getting his leftist agenda passed without the consent of Congress—and how Congress can stop him. From regulatory czars to “signing statements,” Kerpen leaves no stone unturned to expose what is going on in the executive branch. He writes about the massive amounts of costly regulation that is passing through without congressional approval or public fanfare. It is a power-grab …
Google is growing up. That was the message company representatives shared at Heritage this week on the Silicon Valley behemoth’s 13th birthday. (Click here to watch video of the event.) Google is making the case for the free market — and taking its message to conservatives. The Heritage Foundation hosted representatives from Google at Tuesday’s Bloggers Briefing. The meeting came just a few days after a Senate hearing in which Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt was grilled by lawmakers over the company’s search engine ranking practices. The search engine giant recently added …
Catching you up on clips, commentary and news of the day. Sign up for the daily email update from Scribe. FOX and the Sharks – Mike Gonzalez Are the Rich Undertaxed? – Michael G. Franc In wake of Mumbai attacks, Pak could help save dialogue with India – Lisa Curtis A subsidy by any other name – David Kreutzer U.N. sea treaty still a bad deal for U.S. – Kim R. Holmes Politics has overtaken science at the EPA – Dr. Gilbert Ross White House Defends Net Neutrality Rules, Disses Defunding …
Following his party’s devastating losses last November, President Barack Obama made clear that where his party could no longer legislate, it will regulate. Just a month later, America saw his words become action when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to issue new rules regulating the Internet, even though courts and Congress have stood in opposition to its actions. Tomorrow, the House of Representatives is poised to voice its opposition to the FCC’s unmitigated power grab and will vote on a resolution to block the FCC’s rules, sending a powerful message that enough …
On December 21 last year, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), led by chairman Julius Genachowski, voted 3–2 to impose “neutrality” regulations on the Internet. At the time, dissenting commissioner Robert McDowell noted that the day—quite literally—was the “darkest day of the year.” The regulatory winter, however, may prove to be a short one. Not only is Internet regulation under attack in Congress and the courts, but there are signs that Genachowski may soon take a new post at the Commerce Department, leaving his signature initiative in doubt. The latest blow …
In fiscal year 2010, the first full fiscal year under the Obama Administration, the federal government issued 43 major new regulations. According to the Administration’s own estimates, the total cost of these rules was $28 billion. Only two of the new rules reduced measured regulatory costs, and then by only $1.5 billion. On net, the Obama Administration inflicted $26.5 billion in new regulatory costs on the economy last year, an all-time record. This was on top of the $1.75 trillion in existing regulatory costs already inflicted on the U.S. economy …
Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) is keeping the promise she made last month. Today, she filed a bill to strike down the Federal Communications Commission’s recent move to enact net neutrality regulations. The Internet Freedom Act states Internet regulation is the sole prerogative of Congress, and is supported by more than 60 House members, including the majority of Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “I agree that the Internet faces a number of challenges,” Rep. Blackburn said in a statement. “Only Congress can address those challenges without compounding them. …
The most common myth that appears in “net neutrality” debates, even ones that appear in our comment section, is that the internet needs regulation in order to stay “neutral.” In reality, the internet is as open and adaptive as it is because it has been free of government regulation. Slate’s Jake Shafer has fun with this fact with “A counterfactual history of cyberspace” that explores what could have happened “If the FCC Had Regulated the Internet.” Read the whole thing (and our own “net neutrality” research here), but here are …
