According to sources, the House Communications Subcommittee will hold a hearing Feb. 16 on the FCC's new network neutrality rules.
Top Republicans including Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) and Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) have pledged to try and block the rules legislatively.
Public Knowledge (PK), which supports the rules, has put out an e-mail alert calling on its members to tell their congressfolk to oppose the effort.
"This is the only time that Congress will vote "yes or no" on Net Neutrality, so it's crucial that they vote the right way. Help us send a clear message to Congress: a vote for the repeal act is a vote against Internet users," says the PK e-mail.
PK says it will also try to coordinate a "national day of action" in an effort to flood the sw3itchboards of Congress on the issue via mobile phones.
A subcommittee spokesperson had no comment.
While Republicans, including Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, have pledged bills to block the rules, on the other side Democratic Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Al Franken (D-Minn.) have introduced a bill protecting the regs. The Internet Freedom, Broadband Promotion, and Consumer Protection Act of 2011, that would create a new section under Title II of the Communications Act enshrining the FCC's six new network neutrality rules and applying them to wireless.
