Net neutrality in crosshairs as FCC chief steps down

WASHINGTON — Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler’s departure next month leaves in doubt his signature initiative: the net neutrality rule that’s reviled by cable and telephone companies.

The groundbreaking set of regulations, passed in 2015 by Wheeler and his Democratic majority, forbids internet service providers from blocking or slowing rivals’ content. Companies such as AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and the cable industry led by Comcast Corp. sued to block the rule, saying it gave the agency too much authority.

They lost that case but some Republicans have vowed to take up the cause and overturn the regulation when they have control of Congress, the White House and the FCC.

Wheeler, who announced Thursday that he will leave the commission on Jan. 20, when Donald Trump is scheduled to be sworn in, said it may not be so easy. Even though the Republicans will gain a 2-1 FCC majority, federal law requires that they show good reasons if they are to change the rule, Wheeler said at a news conference.

“There’ll be a burden to demonstrate what has changed so drastically” since the rule was passed in 2015, Wheeler said. “Then the question of course is ultimately going to be resolved by the courts,” which have backed the agency’s approach.

Congress could supersede an FCC rule, but legislation that guts the rule could be blocked by Senate Democrats who support net neutrality.

Earlier attempts to write a replacement “all failed to muster sufficient support in the face of a certain veto by President Obama. That’s no longer a factor,” Kevin Werbach, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, wrote in an essay posted on medium.com. “As congressional reversals of signature Democratic policies go, this one would be an easy lift.”

Congress likely will begin examining ways to revoke net neutrality early in 2017, Rep. Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, said in a speech earlier this month.

“Republicans must seize the opportunity before them to roll back Chairman Wheeler’s overreach,” Blackburn said. She called for both parties to work together.

Senator Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican who sits on the commerce committee that oversees the FCC, said, “I look forward to working with the new FCC on rolling back harmful, partisan regulations that choke investment and innovation in the communications sector.”

The regulation was backed by President Barack Obama. Trump hasn’t been explicit about his view of the rule.

In a 2014 tweet, Trump called net neutrality, then under consideration, an “attack on the internet” that would serve to “target conservative media.” He named critics of net neutrality to his transition team, including one who has called the regulation “crony capitalism” designed to benefit so-called edge companies — a category that includes companies such as Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Netflix Inc.

The rule is supported by Google, Netflix, Twitter Inc., Yelp Inc. and other web companies that need to go through internet service providers in order to reach customers.