Dingell finds FCC chairman 'frustrating'

Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski on Monday expressing frustration that the chairman has not returned a letter he sent in May inquiring about the chairman's controversial plan to boost the agency's authority over broadband service providers.

"I find it wholly frustrating that Chairman Genachowski, after nearly two months, still has not responded to my questions about the classification of broadband Internet access services," Dingell said in his letter.

Dingell added that he has "serious concerns about the FCC's proposed course of action" and that Congress has "intense interest" in Genachowski's plans. 

In his May letter, Dingell had said he doubts Genachowski's plan despite his support for network neutrality rules, which the FCC hopes to enact under the authority it would gain through its administrative maneuver.

"I feel Chairman Genachowski's responses to my questions would be invaluable in informing the debate on the matter," Dingell wrote this week.

He said the FCC should not proceed with Genachowski's proposal to boost its power over Internet service providers through a regulatory maneuver known as "reclassification." In his original letter, Dingell expressed “grave concern” that Genachowski's plan risks reversal by the courts, putting “at risk significant past and future investments, perhaps to the detriment of the Nation’s economic recovery and continued technological leadership,” he wrote at the time.
 


"I urge the FCC to continue working with the Congress and forebear from further proceedings on reclassification until such time as Congress decides an appropriate course of action," Dingell said this week.

Net-neutrality rules, a central agenda item for the FCC, would aim to prevent Internet service providers from exercising too much power over the traffic traveling on their networks.

In his original letter, Dingell called for congressional action to clarify the FCC’s authority over broadband, noting an announcement by the chairmen of the congressional commerce panels that they will start this year on efforts to update the Communications Act to address new technology.

Dingell, who prides himself on the thoroughness of his “Dingell-grams” sent on issues of concern, had listed five points aimed at undermining the legal basis Genachowski has used to support his plan to change the regulatory classification of broadband service.