WASHINGTON, DC - House Energy and Commerce and Small Business Committee leaders today expressed disappointment following the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to forgo permanent protection of small businesses from heightened disclosure requirements included in the commission’s open Internet order.
“Permanent protection should have been an easy call, but the FCC fumbled it," said Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI). “Consumers will be hurt the most as the smaller Internet service providers in Michigan and across the nation are forced to invest in compliance with the burdensome rules, rather than in better service to their customers. The FCC should save the red tape for Christmas, not our small businesses."
“Small businesses across the country have more than enough on their plate without the prospect of new regulations from unelected bureaucrats in Washington," said House Small Business Committee Chairman Steve Chabot (R-OH). “Today’s decision to provide only temporary relief does little to help job creators as they work to ensure millions of Americans have access to state-of-the-art broadband networks."
“Chairman Wheeler and the FCC had a chance today to give both consumers and small Internet providers a permanent victory", added Communications and Technology Subcommittee Greg Walden (R-OR). “With Internet service for millions, and thousands of jobs on the line, the commission should be encouraging innovation and deployment instead of forcing costly burdensome regulations of questionable benefit to consumers on these small companies. It was smart to protect small businesses and consumers from these requirements in the first place. It’s time for the commission to make these temporary protections permanent once and for all."
Last month, thirty-five House members, including every Republican member of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology and every Republican member of the Small Business Committee, wrote to the Federal Communications Commission urging a permanent exemption from the open Internet order’s enhanced transparency requirements for small businesses.
