Republicans Praise Net NeutralityReg Court Challenge

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) joined with Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore) and Vice Chairman Lee Terry (R-Neb.) in praising Verizon's challenge of new network neutrality regs.

That should come as no surprise, since the trio are themselves trying to block the regs legislatively.

"We welcome the decision by Verizon, and hopefully others, to demand their day in court to block the FCC's misguided attempt to regulate the Internet," they said in a statement issued Thursday, following Verizon's filing of an appeal in the D.C. Circuit.

"At stake is not just innovation and economic growth, although those concerns are vital," the legislators said. "Equally important is putting a check on an FCC that is acting beyond the authority granted to it by Congress. Between our legislative efforts and this court action, we will put the FCC back on firmer ground."

Upton and company have also signaled they will hold hearings on what they suggested has been the FCC's "abuse" of its powers.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.