GOP Readies Legal Attack On Net Neutrality

Republicans dismayed at the FCC’s recently approved net neutrality rules are readying a variety of legislative strategies to undercut or reverse the regulation. Opponents claim the new rules, which would prevent Internet service providers from selling “fast lanes” to clients paying additional fees, constitute job-killing regulatory overkill. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) has introduced a bill that would invalidate the rules, while lobbyists for ISPs are working to convince other lawmakers to support new replacement legislation. Meanwhile, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) is spearheading an effort to invoke a little-used nullifying strategy that was enabled by the Congressional Review Act, passed in 1996.