Disapproving FCC Internet and Broadband Regulations

Floor Speech

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There are really three major points to bring up here. One is Congress did not give the FCC authorization to regulate the Internet. There is no authorization. Mr. Markey had a bill. It didn't get enough support even in a Democratic-controlled Congress to pass. There was not support for a net neutrality bill in the Senate. So the President, who made campaign promises to some of his biggest supporters from California, had to do it through the FCC. These back-end ways of legislating have to stop. That's what we're doing here today.

The second point is the robust nature of the Internet. I love the argument that as it's been deregulated somehow it's been stifled from innovation. Like we haven't seen the Facebooks and the Googles, which are in favor of net neutrality, come to being. My goodness, it was the robust Internet that allowed these great experiments like Netflix to come up. Now they're so big that they want help through government agencies for advantages in the marketplace.

We hear a lot about blocking, that it's about blocking content. There has been about a half a dozen instances, Madam Speaker, where Internet providers did block, in some way altered the people's, their customers' ability to go to a Web site. All instances were resolved by their customers' pressure and some encouragement by the FCC. So the fact that these instances were resolved, and everyone knows there should be no blocking, why are we here except for the real reason: to give the FCC power over business plans.

Mr. Markey just mentioned it. The gentlelady from California mentioned it. It's about tiering. If you walk into McDonald's, you pay more for a large Coke than a small Coke. But yet under the FCC's plan, they want one size fits all, one price, which is the Netflix and Google's request.

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