Tech Year In Review: Compromise Wins the Day

[Commentary] Here we look aback at the recent year of accomplishments, or lack thereof, of the GOP-controlled Congress in tech. Republican leaders saw their tech policy success hinge on compromise with Democrats. Their projects lived or died based on bipartisan cooperation. On the plus side of the ledger, the Senate passed a long-debated cybersecurity bill after significant pushback from Democrats (and some Republicans). The bill’s supporters got to yes when they listened to the naysaysers’ concerns and responded to them. It is now on track to be conferenced with the House and sent to the President’s desk before the end of this Congress.

On the other side, Republicans in the Senate and House Commerce Committees didn’t even get off the ground in their attempts to overhaul of the 1934 Communications Act. The Federal Communications Commission dashed Republicans’ hopes at an Internet-era rewrite when it published “net neutrality” rules that would regulate broadband connections like telephone services. With a Democratic majority at the agency, and a president who supports that kind of rule, any bipartisan movement on communications law was halted.