Rep Blackburn Unveils Broadband Rule Smackdown Resolution

Republicans are going after the Federal Communications Commission's broadband privacy rules with both barrels. House Communications Subcommittee Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) has introduced her version of a Congressional Review Act resolution invalidating the FCC's Oct 27 order. That follows a similar CRA resolution introduced this week by Sen Jeff Flake (R-AZ). The CRA allows a simple majority of Congress members to invalidate recent regulations, in this case rules approved by the FCC back in October.

Like the Sen Flake resolution, HJRes 86 "provides congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Federal Communications Commission relating to "Protecting the Privacy of Customers of Broadband and Other Telecommunications Services." “The FCC’s decision last October to unilaterally swipe jurisdiction from the FTC by creating its own privacy rules for ISPs was troubling,"Rep Blackburn said March 9. "The FTC has been our government’s sole online privacy regulator for over twenty years. A dual regulatory approach will only serve to create confusion within the Internet eco-system and harm consumers. This is a bi-partisan issue, as Democrats have also voiced concerns about the potential for consumer harm resulting from the FCC’s overreach. We look forward to rolling back these anti-consumer rules and returning jurisdiction to the FTC.”