Jon Street
The Blaze
3/17/2015
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told members of Congress Tuesday that the White House did not pressure the agency into passing new internet rules, but one Republican congressman is honing in on two words contained in an email from last year that could indicate just the opposite.
Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA) pointed to an email Wheeler wrote in May 2014 in which a staffer for then Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wrote the chairman and admitted to telling the White House to “back off” Title II. That’s the part of the 1934 telecommunications law that, as of last month, gives the agency the authority to regulate the internet as a public utility.
While Wheeler at first wanted to use Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 as the basis for the FCC’s authority to implement the new rules, known collectively as net neutrality, President Barack Obama has consistently maintained that Title II of the Communications Act of 1934 should be invoked instead. Wheeler later changed his mind on the issue and decided to go along with the White House.
Wheeler denies, however, that the administration played any role in his reversal…
The article continues, with video, at The Blaze.
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The inspector general for the Federal Communications Commission has opened an investigation into the agency’s process for writing new rules for the Internet, according to the House Oversight Committee.
“It’s my understanding that it’s not an audit, not an inspection, but its an actual investigation,” committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) said at the conclusion of a hearing with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler…
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