FCC Commissioners Ask Chariman To Delay Net Neutrality Vote, Release Proposal
Republican FCC Commissioners Ask Wheeler To Delay Net
Neutrality Vote, Release Proposal
4:45 PM 02/23/2015
By Giuseppe Macri
Three days before the Federal Communications Commission
is scheduled to vote on the most significant Internet regulations in history,
two commissioners are asking Chairman Tom Wheeler to delay the vote and release
his proposal to the public.
“We
respectfully request that FCC leadership immediately release the 332-page
Internet regulation plan publicly and allow the American people a reasonable
period of not less than 30 days to carefully study it,” Republican
Commissioners Ajit Pai and Michael O’Rielly said in a statement Monday. “Then,
after the commission reviews the specific input it receives from the American
public and makes any modifications to the plan as appropriate, we could proceed
to a final vote.”
The commission is set to vote on Wheeler’s aggressive
proposal — which will regulate Internet service providers as public utilities
and set new standards for speed and pricing — on Thursday, when it is expected
to pass by a partisan vote of 3-2.
“With the
future of the entire Internet at stake, it is imperative that the FCC get this
right,” the commissioners said. “And to do that, we must live up to the highest
standards of transparency. Transparency is particularly important here because
the plan in front of us right now is so drastically different than the proposal
the FCC adopted and put out for public comment last May.”
The FCC traditionally never releases proposed regulations
prior to their implementation, prompting Pai to spend the weeks since Wheeler
laid out the foundation of the plan to point out its most aggressive
regulations in press releases and op-eds with commissioners from fellow
agencies.
“Over the
past few weeks, it has become clear that the American people are growing
increasingly concerned about government regulation of the Internet and that
they want the commission to disclose the plan,” the commissioners said.
“Indeed, an independent survey last week found that 79 percent of Americans
favored releasing the plan prior to any FCC vote.”
In response to the request Wheeler tweeted that FCC
already held a period to review public comment last summer, and that it was
“time to act.”
FCC received more than 4 million comments on
#OpenInternet during past year that helped shape proposal. It’s time to act.
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