Republican lawmakers question FCC budget after net neutrality vote

[TomCADem]

Source: PC World

Some Republican lawmakers questioned the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s new budget request Wednesday, with a couple of them attempting to tie the agency’s funding to its controversial net neutrality vote days ago.

The FCC’s vote last Thursday to impose new net neutrality rules on broadband providers will likely face a court challenge, Representative Bill Johnson, an Ohio Republican, said during a hearing before the communications subcommittee of House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Defending the net neutrality order “will not be costless,” Johnson said. “Wouldn’t the commission have saved a significant amount of money if it had let Congress legislate on net neutrality instead of moving forward an ill-fated ... order that it knows is going to be litigated for years?”

* * *
Most lawmakers at the hearing steered clear of the net neutrality debate and focused more generally on the FCC’s fiscal year 2016 budget request. The agency is asking for US$530 million, $84 million more than in fiscal year 2015. A big chunk of the requested increase, $51 million, would be to move to new headquarters or to consolidate operations in a smaller space at its current building. Either of those options would yield a projected $119 million in savings over 15 years, Wilkins said.

Read more: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2893132/republican-lawmakers-question-fcc-budget-after-net-neutrality-vote.html

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Once again, the GOP carries water for the big telecom companies.

[arcane1]

1. That train is never late!

[Midnight Writer]

2. GOP catchphrase: Shut 'R Down

[PSPS]

3. "its controversial net neutrality vote"

Some Republican lawmakers questioned the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s new budget request Wednesday, with a couple of them attempting to tie the agency’s funding to its controversial net neutrality vote days ago.

It was "controversial" only among the top .01%, hence the corporate/state media must proclaim it as such.

[snot]

4. nailed it.

[imthevicar]

5. Say their FCC,

That's a nice agency you got their, be a shame if anything happened to your funding.

[davidpdx]

7. Yep, that's about right

They threaten anything that gets in their way.

[Scuba]

6. Vengeful little pricks, aren't they?

[Orsino]

8. Nope. Just implacable.

Anything in the way of corporate control must be demolished.

[pampango]

9. Thank goodness for a Democratic president and a 3-2 Democratic majority on the FCC.

That slim Democratic majority makes all the difference in the world.

[father founding]

10. Monkey see, monkey do

They are just doing the bidding of their corporate masters, yes massa,yes massa....

[Marthe48]

11. My email to Bill Johnson

You Republicans want to punish the FCC for their vote? What part of fair do you not understand? Places like SE Ohio, that you supposedly represent, will not prosper without an Internet that remains accessible and affordable for individuals, schools, businesses and communities. You seem to be too old to understand the dynamics of Internet usage. You say you support small business, but by wanting to punish the FCC, you prove you support only big business and the rest of us are nothing. I hope you are out of office soon, because time after time, you make the wrong choice for the people who live in your district. It is like having a dinosaur deciding what he wants, not a thinking person who sees what his constituents need. I don't even know why I bother to write.