Months Later, Hill GOP Shows Limited Interest in Net Neutrality CRA Resolution
Nearly half a year has gone by since Republicans introduced Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolutions of disapproval to kill the FCC’s February net neutrality order -- a long-shot measure that the White House would likely have vetoed. But neither chamber has taken up its resolution. Political observers now question whether the resolution could even advance as a message bill, despite what was intense initial GOP outrage over the FCC order.
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The time element has special bearing on CRA resolutions, specific to the rarely successful tool designed to let Congress kill certain federal regulations in an expedited manner. The first crucial time element is when the resolutions are introduced, and Republicans met those thresholds in introducing resolutions in both chambers within months of the net neutrality order.
But the Senate also faced a deadline for expedited advancement of the CRA resolution itself, and the Senate can now no longer easily advance a CRA resolution on its own. The Senate deadline has expired, a spokeswoman for Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., told us last week. Paul, who is seeking the GOP presidential nomination, introduced the CRA resolution (Senate Joint Resolution 14) April 28 without any co-sponsors. Some Senate Republicans -- including Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa -- said they preferred the CRA route over proposals for net neutrality legislation.
The House could still act and has no time limit on moving its resolution, GOP House staffers told us. “We just don't know yet -- it all depends on leadership and the committee,” said a spokeswoman for Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., a Judiciary Committee member who introduced the House CRA resolution (House Joint Resolution 42) April 13. Collins’ resolution, unlike Paul’s in the Senate, sports several GOP backers. It has 22 co-sponsors, including Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and Communications Subcommittee Vice Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio.
The net neutrality CRA resolution can still advance now, but only under normal congressional procedure, given the Senate’s time limit for advancing the measure with only a simple majority has expired, one GOP staffer familiar with the congressional procedures explained.
Both resolutions were referred to their respective chambers' Commerce committee, where GOP leaders resisted the CRA route due to hopes for bipartisan net neutrality legislation. Senators and industry lobbyists have described robust negotiations in the Senate all year, and even this fall, industry lobbyists and those around Capitol Hill have been telling us of regular staff meetings between the offices of Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla. They remain unsure what end product to expect, but insist legislative negotiation on a net neutrality deal is ongoing and as strong as ever. But in the House, Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., have been frank about the lack of negotiation with Democrats.
“I don’t have any comment on that one,” Walden told us last week when asked about the CRA resolution. Walden has always emphasized in past interviews that the CRA resolution is still very much on the table if needed, even if not his preferred route of action. In 2011, Walden led a CRA resolution attacking the FCC’s 2010 net neutrality order, and that resolution passed the House. He and Upton aren't co-sponsoring and haven't backed Collins’ resolution this year. They have both mentioned an eye toward the ongoing net neutrality litigation and its predicted developments next year when considering next steps on net neutrality.
“The reason that the 60 legislative-day time clock matters is that it provides a ‘fast track’ procedure for consideration of the resolution,” said Andrew Schwartzman, senior counselor at the Georgetown University Law Center Institute for Public Representation. “I haven't done the counting, but if that period has expired, the problem is that it will be almost impossible to move the resolution in the Senate.”
Congress faces a packed agenda in the coming months that may limit focus on net neutrality, especially in the House, where the GOP House caucus is expected to move this week to formally elect Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., as speaker, replacing John Boehner, R-Ohio, when he steps down at the end of October. There is also a competitive race for the next majority leader underway. Lawmakers face many looming deadlines, some of which could trigger government shutdowns -- there is the battle over an effort to craft the next omnibus government spending bill once the current funding measure expires Dec. 11; the need for a transportation funding bill this month; the need to raise the debt ceiling by early November; and a congressional attempt to postpone the positive train control implementation deadline beyond Dec. 31. And in the telecom space, lawmakers in both chambers have turned their attentions to areas that they say are less partisan and with more achievable goals -- both the House Communications Subcommittee and Senate Commerce Committee will focus on wireless industry concerns in dueling hearings Wednesday morning.