Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who has vowed to block the FCC's network neutrality rules, said conservatives must also look at the FCC's vote to approve those rules Dec. 21 as a "wake up" call that the FCC's regulatory impulse needs some control.
"The FCC thought they were pushing into a regulatory vacuum last month when they unveiled their net neutrality rules," she said. "They may find soon that they stumbled into a Congressional hurricane." The FCC voted in a 3-2 party line decision, with both Republicans dissenting.
The FCC adopted the new rules based on an attempt at bipartisan legislation establishing its Internet access oversight authority. But that Democratic-led bill failed to get support from Republicans, so the FCC adopted a regulatory version.
In a speech at the "State of the Net" conference in Washington Tuesday, she warned that the net neutrality rules would only be the vanguard. "They are the first draft many regulations to come. And as the rules are revised and revised and revised, they create instability, unpredictability- the greatest of all disincentives to investment."
The revision reference was to the FCC's decision to take a case-by-case approach to enforcing and refining the rules, which it argues is appropriate given the changing and evolving nature of the Internet.
