First Republican Congressman Demands FCC Delay Net Neutrality Vote
Dell Cameron | Gizmodo
Dec 12, 2017
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[snip]

With the fate of Thursday’s net neutrality vote resting almost entirely in the hands of the Republican Party, a lone conservative has emerged to oppose FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s plan to gift-wrap the internet for Verizon and Friends this Christmas.

Colorado Rep. Mike Coffman, a staunch conservative in nearly every sense, called on the FCC to delay its upcoming vote in a letter Tuesday, saying Congress should find a “permanent legislative solution to ensure the continuation of a free and open Internet.”

“The Internet has been and remains a transformative tool,” Coffman writes, “and I am concerned that any action you take may alter the rules under which it functions and may well have significant unanticipated negative consequences.”

Coffman then threw Pai’s own—actually quite elegant—words back at him:

“As you stated in your dissent to the previous FCC’s open Internet proceeding, ‘A dispute this fundamental is not for us, five unelected officials, to decide. Instead, it should be resolved by the people’s elected representatives, those who choose the direction of government—and those whom the American people can hold accountable for that choice.’

Coffman is the first Republican lawmaker to ask the FCC to delay the vote, but a handful of others have criticized the agency’s proposal in one way or another, including Sens. Susan Collins and John Thune and Reps. Dave Reichert, John Curtis, and Jeff Fortenberry.