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As lawmakers seek net neutrality solution, cable group CEO says time to move on

Although a cable industry CEO recently compared the battle over net neutrality to the futility of trench warfare, Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said she still sees the possibility of a legislative solution.

Speaking in an interview that will air March 10 for C-SPAN's "The Communicators" series, Blackburn said she sees enough bipartisan agreement around certain core tenets of net neutrality to make compromise possible. Blackburn's comments come just days after Michael Powell, president and CEO of NCTA - The Internet & Television Association, said in a speech that "net neutrality has become mindless trench warfare, with one side advancing briefly, only to lose that ground in the next volley of attacks from the other side."

Powell previously served as a Republican chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.

But Blackburn said she sees her own proposed bill, the "Open Internet Preservation Act," as a way forward on the issue. For starters, the bill would prohibit the blocking and throttling of legal internet traffic.

"That should be something we can have bipartisan agreement on," she said.

Blackburn first introduced her bill less than one week after the Federal Communications Commission voted in December 2017 to overhaul to its net neutrality regulations. The commission's order, which is already facing legal challenges, reclassified broadband as a Title I service under the Communications Act, giving the FCC less regulatory authority over the service. The order also eliminated the commission's previous net neutrality rules, which prohibited network operators from blocking or throttling legal internet traffic, or prioritizing certain traffic in exchange for payment.

In her C-SPAN interview, Blackburn said her bill does not tackle paid prioritization because she sees it as a more complicated issue. She noted people from various technology fields — including artificial intelligence, healthcare and autonomous vehicles — believe prioritization will be necessary for certain next-generation services.

"I think that it merits a more thorough discussion," she said.

Blackburn's bill has been referred to the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology for consideration. On March 7, Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., introduced a companion version of Blackburn's bill in the Senate, signaling some possible momentum behind the legislation.

"Does this bill resolve every issue in the net neutrality debate? No, it doesn't. It's not a silver bullet. But it's a good start," Kennedy said.

Democrats in Congress, meanwhile, are calling for a resolution of disapproval against the FCC's order under the Congressional Review Act, or CRA. The law, used by Republicans in 2017 to overturn various Obama-era regulations, allows lawmakers 60 legislative days to disapprove of a newly issued regulation. The CRA also contains a provision that prohibits an agency from issuing a new rule in "substantially the same form" as a regulation disapproved by Congress. This means that if Democrats were to succeed in using the CRA to overturn the FCC's 2017 order, it would not only restore the previous net neutrality rules, but the FCC would be prohibited from ever reclassifying broadband as a Title I service in the future.

As for the NCTA's Powell, he views the most recent neutrality debate among lawmakers and regulators as a big distraction from more pressing concerns.

"For all the fire and fury over net neutrality, the debate is increasingly irrelevant. No matter how it is resolved — if it is ever resolved — it will have little real-world impact. Because while we are mired in an intractable squabble, technology and the issues we must face are swiftly moving on," Powell said.

Powell said he would like to see U.S. policymakers pivot to focus on a regulatory framework that "addresses the growing list of concerns that truly impact our citizens," such as privacy, fake news, the foreign manipulation of elections, cybersecurity and market power.

"Governments have no greater responsibility than protecting ... citizens from attack by those that seek to hurt them," argued Powell. "Cybersecurity continues to need serious global attention."