House GOP Leadership Eyeing Senate Reception to Using CRA on ISP Privacy Rules
House GOP leadership is privately saying that any Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval of FCC ISP privacy rules must come with some assurances that such a resolution could make it through the Senate, one telecom industry lobbyist told us…
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Monday. The lobbyist thought some GOP senators would step up but referred to mixed signals on whether the bicameral GOP leadership offices really want to use the tool -- which would nix the regulations and prevent the FCC from developing similar ones absent congressional authorization -- on the rules at all. The lobbyist saw potential for securing all Republican senators' support and that of some Democrats. Coalitions of industry and free-market groups sent Congress two letters on the topic last week (see 1701270062 and 1701260042). Some Capitol Hill Democrats and public interest advocates have slammed the idea of using this tool against the rules. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is seen as taking point on how to advance with these resolutions. GOP leadership aides from multiple offices didn't comment. “Congress should act to repeal those rules with a resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act,” wrote Scott Cleland, chairman of ISP-funded NetCompetition, in a blog post for The Hill Monday, calling the FCC rules a mess that consumers cannot understand. “Any representative or senator that is trying to make sense of this issue need only ask one question: How does it protect consumer privacy when the FCC makes an ISP treat some consumer information as confidential, but allows every other company in the world to treat that same information nonconfidential?”