American Thinker - In the House, HJ37, the resolution to disapprove the FCC action, has been approved on a floor vote of: 238 to 174. Last December, under cover of the holidays and the spectacle of the lame duck Congress, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) defied a federal court and enacted an internet regulatory takeover. In answer, the House began moving House Joint Resolution 37 through committee. The resolution will cancel the FCC rulemaking and bring the policy discussion back to Congress.
Thus, the FCC and the House of Representatives have begun a classic Separation of Powers struggle. The debate involves a simple yet critical question: is policy established by an elected Congress or imposed by appointed agency bureaucrats?
The short history
The FCC action became an issue after Comcast was involved in a dispute with BitTorrent applications. Certainly, the controversy had every potential of becoming a marketing nightmare for Comcast. No business wants a reputation of shortchanging its customers. The dispute ended with an agreement between Comcast and BitTorrent
In spite of competitive market forces at work, the FCC solution was to assert jurisdiction over the internet. Comcast in turn challenged the FCC in court, while senators and representatives of both parties publicly questioned the FCC action. This should have been taken as a signal to the FCC to go slow and take care. Read More
