Republicans hope that President Donald Trump's appointment of Ajit Pai as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission will lead to the rolling back of many regulations — particularly net neutrality — put in place during the Obama administration.
"I think getting some certainty on the net neutrality issue is something that the industry would like for us to do," Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn told The Hill. "Everyone would like to see some certainty there, and everyone would like to see the FCC back in their correct lanes.
"FTC should have jurisdiction for privacy," she said, referring to the Federal Trade Commission.
Adopted in February, former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's Open Internet Order codified net neutrality, which decreed that all Internet traffic should be treated equally.
The order reclassified Internet service providers as utilities, subjecting them to heavier regulation, with the FCC effectively taking over regulatory jurisdiction on privacy and other issues from the FTC, the Hill reports.
Pai, 44, one of the FCC's two Republicans, fought against the enactment of the neutrality order.
He was nominated to the commission in 2012 by former President Barack Obama and confirmed later that year.
Trump appointed Pai chairman on Monday — and Democrats have since vowed to stand up for net neutrality should he try to undo it, the Hill reports.
Pai said last month that he and Michael O'Rielly, the commission's other Republican, intended to act on reclassification "as soon as possible," the Hill reports.
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