Last month, Daily Kos and other net neutrality activist organizations
wrote to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, asking him to sign on to the efforts of more than a dozen members of his Senate caucus and House Minority Leader Pelosi and dozens of House Democrats to demand that the Federal Communications Commission reclassify broadband and implement strong Net Neutrality rules and to treat the internet as the public utility that it is—like water, telephones, and electricity. We focused on Reid because he's been quiet on the issue thus far, because we need a united Democratic front in pressuring the FCC to do the right thing to protect the internet, and because Reid is the second most powerful elected policymaker in the country.
Reid has responded, and while he didn't take a position on reclassification, he stressed that he "will lead the fight to protect any Open Internet rules populated by the FCC against the inevitable Republican attack against such rules," and that he would work to "ensure that priority arrangements that harm consumers are prohibited." Should the FCC decide to reclassify internet service as a public utility, Reid will back the Commission up, and will fight Republican efforts to undermine that rule.
That greatly undermines FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's argument that the easiest route for the FCC to regulate the internet politically would be under Section 706 of the Federal Communications Act. That's despite the fact, as we pointed out in our letter to Reid, that "legal scholars and even the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals—as it struck down the FCC's 2010 Open Internet Order in January—have made it clear that Section 706 does not provide the FCC with the ability to ban unreasonable discrimination, access fees, paid prioritization, exclusive deals, or discriminatory exemptions to bandwidth caps—all of which were banned or effectively banned in the FCC's 2010 order." There's ample political support for the FCC to reclassify—and it's been expressed directly to the FCC by many members of Congress, and now is implicitly supported by Majority Leader Reid. As the National Journal reports, this letter from Reid could "give the FCC political cover to enact tougher rules," and "reassure FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler that he has the political support he needs to ignore the Republican outcry and enact strong net-neutrality regulations."
That's if, when Wheeler talks about political support, he's really talking about elected leadership and not the well-heeled telecomm lobbyists fighting against strong rules.
You can read Sen. Reid's response to our letter in full below the fold.
Dear Mr. Moulitsas Zuniga:
In our recent letter, you asked me to publicly support strong net neutrality regulations. Let me be clear: I support net neutrality. You further asked that I tell the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reclassify Internet service providers as common carriers under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934. Let me assure you that I will lead the fight to protect any Open Internet rules populated by the FCC against the inevitable Republican attack against such rules.
Since 2006, I have strongly and publicly supported net neutrality. I believe that the Internet is one of the great equalizers of our time. Especially in a time when dark money threatens to take over our political system, the Internet offers a forum for people to make a difference with ideas, not dollars. And I favor rules that will keep the Internet open and allow ideas and innovation to thrive. This is why in 2011 I led the Senate's effort to defeat a Republican resolution that would have overturned the FCC's Open Internet Order.
The Commission is now considering how to promulgate meaningful net neutrality rules in the wake of the D.C. Circuit Court's opinion in Verizon v. Federal Communciations Commission. I am watching closely as the Commission drafts these rules. And I will work to ensure that these rules give consumers access to the lawful content they want when they want it, without interference and ensure that priority arrangements that harm consumers are prohibited.
I look forward to working with you to keep the Internet open, innovative, and free.
Harry Reid
Majority Leader
United States Senate