The smart will vote on Net Neutrality rules. A number of senators commented. I ask the quorum call be dispensed with. Without objection. Thank you, mr. President. The innovation and innovation driven economy of the United States. Chairman of fcc decided to repeal critical Consumer Protection known as Net Neutrality. This is a wrongheaded move, misguided and driven by big cable interests that want to gouge consumers and charge them more as they charge for making sure that consumers either pay or have their internet lines slow down. This decision turns the success of what has been an essential 21st century innovation over to those in big corporations, instead of making sure that main street innovators continue to do what they t do best. I dont think the American People want Cable Companies to be the gatekeeper on the internet. They want to have the fcc continue to playnt a role in making sure that an open internet is there for all, so that Small Businesses that entrepreneurs, that innovators can continue to build on the success of communicating with their consumers and their Business Partners without having artificiallysloweddown lines. Who would this impact if the fcc moves forward . Well, you could say seniors would be impacted on their telehealth medicine. Students would be impacted from learning and slowing down of education lines. Families accessing educational tools for their children can also see charges. And the highway that has been so important toan making sure that new internet businesses are started could be impact. The number one reason we have to fight this and to make sure that we do everything we can to stop the fcc from implementing this rule and making sure that we give consumers the protection of Net Neutrality is that it will harm our internet economy. Last summer we had a town meeting about this and heard from many a of my constituents about this sent many business caseso to chairman pai so he would understand why this impacts us so much. But let me make sure that we understand whats happening. The fcc has had rules that prevented companies from throttling or blocking and they have paved the way to many great successes. We have in the United States fortune 500 companies in a tech responsible for 7 of our nations gdp and 6. 9 million jobs in the United States of america. Why would you change the rules now . Why would you leave making sure critical protections are in place and instead, replace them with the ability for Certain Companies cable specifically, to wreak havoc on this economy . 13 of washington states economy depends on a healthy internete sector. The internet economy for our state supports 250,000 jobs and it is a time of, when the nation is looking to see that they havent had enough wage growth and enough growth in the middle class earning more, those tech jobs have been a bedrock for the. Iddle class. So chairman pai is clearly not focused on the 13,000 Tech Companies in the state of washington, the 250,000 jobs and the 13 of our states economy. Just this past weekend my colleague, congresswoman delbene and i, met with many of these Small Businesses and their message was loud and clear, please stop chairman pai from ruining the internet by taking away key protections that make sure our businesses run successful. Chairman pai is abdicating his role. He is abandoning the consumers that he swore an oath to serve. He is turning his back on innovators and hein has really changed the direction for us and innn our innovation economy. I know he thinks this is a light touch but i guarranty you it is no touch. What we need is to make sure that these companies do not artificially charge consumers, Small Business, main street more for what they already are doing now and doing successfully. Open internet rule and the rules that we are living under now have fueled an innovation economy. Every business plan, every startup relies on the ability to contact their consumers. And with this much our economy at stake, lets not continue to maketa mistakes. Lets continue to fight here in the United States senate, to make sure that we stop chairman pai and the fcc from having the resources to implement this rule. It is important so much, now, that we continue to fight for Small Businesses, for main street entrepreneurs, for the innovation economy, and say that we deserve to have an open internet. We should not have as the Small Businesses and innovators just said to me this past weekend in seattle, this really is like siding with the big companies, saying theyre going to make all the decisions. They are the ones who are going to be in control and they are not goingne to be for competiti. They are not going to be for little of innovation and they are going to slow down what is one of the best parts of our economy. I hope our colleagues will join the fight and stop the fcc in any manner possible from implementing what is literally a very, very, anticompetitive strategy and very, very focused on big corporations instead of the innovation economy of the future. I thank theov president , and i yield the into the floor. No problem. Madam president. Senator from massachusetts. Thank you, madam president. Madam president , i want to thank all of my colleagues led by snort cantwell for joining me on the floor this afternoon. Were speaking on behalf of millions of our constituents and of millions of americans who support a free and open internet. I am proud to come to the floor to discuss an issue of National Importance to both our economy and to our democracy, net neutral. Now, a lot of people have people recently stopped and asked me, what exactly is Net Neutrality . Well the technical answer is that network neutrality, or Net Neutrality is the principle that Internet Service providers, you know their names, verizon, at t, charter, comcast, the people that you pay by check each month to make sure you have broadband service, so you know who they are, that those Internet Service providers can not discriminate againstt content providers, against websites but the simpler explanation is this. No one owns the internet. Everyone can use the internet. Anyone can improve the internet. But that willot not be the casef the Trump Administration, ajit pai, the chairman and republicans have their way. They want to get rid of the federal Communications CommissionsNet Neutrality rules so that the isps, the Internet Service providers, can indiscrimminantly chargee more for internet fast lanes, slow down websites, block websites, make it harder or even impossible for inventors, entrepreneurs, an Small Businesses, theeb lifeblood of e american economy, to connect to the internet. That is why we are here this afternoon on the floor. And it is why supporters of a free and open internet are vigorously opposed to this politicallycraven attempt to weaken the principle of Net Neutrality that has has allowed the internet to flourish. Tomorrow, the federal Communications Commission is voting on a proposal that cuts at the very heart of a free and open internet. They are voting to roll back Net Neutrality protections and send a love letter to the Big Broadband companies, that stand to make huge profits without these rules. So what are chairman pai and his broadband buddies really trying to do . Well, the first thing they would do is gut the rule against blocking. So what does that mean . Well, it means that an Internet Service provider could block any website it wants. W that include a website of a competing service, or a website with a contrary political view, whatever they want. Second, chairman pai would gut the rule against throttling. So what does that mean . Well it means that the Internet Service provider could slow down any website it wants. And third, chairman pai would gut the rule banning paid prioritization. So what doest that mean . Well it means that the Internet Service provider could charge websites for an internet fast lane, meaning those websites would load quicker, while websites that cant afford the internet easy pass would be stuck on a gravel path, taking more time to load, and frustratingoa consumers with log buffering times. And fourth, chairman pai would gut the forwardlooking general conduct rule. What does that mean . Well the general conduct rule would protect consumers from harms such as data caps and other discriminatory behavior that isps think of in the coming months or years ahead. And fifth, chairman pai would create an unregulated, interconnection market. M what does that mean . Well it means the federal Communications Commission would Lose Authority to oversee places where isps connect to the internetet and extract fees. And finally, chairman pai wants to prevent states and localities from adopting their own Net Neutrality protections. So what will the be the replacement for these enforceable Net Neutrality rules today . What will replace them . Absolutely nothing. Chairman pai will leave it to the Internet Service providers to simply regulate themselves in this unpoliced internet wild west. Now, chairman pai claims that the federal trade commission, not the federal Communications Commission, the commission of expertise over telecommunications but the federal trade commission, somehow provides a sufficient backstop to bad behavior by the isps. But that is simply not true. Under the federal trade commission the Big Broadband barons would establish their own Net Neutrality policies. That is like letting the bullies develop their own playground rules. And if the isp wants to block websites, slown down competitors websites, charge innovators and entrepreneurs to reach their customers, they will be free to do so. And thats because the federal trade commission can only step in if a broadband provider violates its own Net Neutrality policy, that is the policy created by the Broadband Company itself f a Service Provider has a written policy that charges websites for internet fast lanes there is nothing the federal trade commission can do about it. That is ridiculous and it is wrong. Lo allowing the broadband industry to set their own Net Neutrality protections is like letting the fox guard the henhouse. Okay. So the federal trade Commission Oversight will notil work. Chairman pai also claims that he has another solution. It is called transparency. He argues that if isps are transparent about their Net Neutrality practices, consumers businesses can simply choose to use a broadband provider with the Net Neutrality practices that best suits them. But what good is transparency when most americans have little or no choice for high Speed Broadband access . Consider this. 62 of americans have only one choice for high speed fixed broadband. Thats right. Nearly 2 3 of the country has only one choice who they can purchase broadband from. So, that means that if a household only choice, for high Speed Broadband isnt transparent about its plans to set up internet fast and slow lanes, the consumer has two choices. One, accept the Internet Service providers terms, or two, live without the internet. That is a false choice. People do not want to live without the internet in the 21st century. So now, chairman pai also claims Internet Service providers actually support Net Neutrality but just not the open Internet Order under which were living today. That is like saying you support democracy but not the constitution. It is like saying you like math but you hate numbers. It makes no sense. The broadband barons have been fighting for years both at the federal Communications Commission and in then courts to block Net Neutrality rules. It is Crystal Clear and has been for years. The Broadband Companies are deeply opposed to Net Neutrality because they want to drive up their profits by setting up internet fast and slow lanes and charging consumers more for less. Its a simple formula. Chairman pai, also claims that broadband investment has been discouraged by the open Internet Order. That is if false. Investment in the broadband infrastructure is stronger than ever. With the deployment of 5g technologies on the horizon we can expect this strong investment to continue. Broadband investment on the aggregate has increased in the two years since the fcc passed thess open Internet Order. But beyond just measuring dollars spent, broadband speeds have also increased after the 2015 order, meaning that isps are improving the services they offer to their consumers. And consider this. That in 2016 almost half, almost half of the Venture Capital fund invested in this country went toward internetspecific and software companies. That is 25 billion worth of investments. We have hit the sweet spot. Investment in broadband and Wireless Technologies is high. Job creation is high. Venture Capital Investment and online startups is high. Chairman paiai threatens to disrupt this appropriate balance and squash innovation online. It is clear that americans do not want what the fcc is proposing. It seems like the only supporters of this plan is the broadband industry. If chairman pai be and his republican colleagues turn a deaf ear to millions of americans standing up for Net Neutrality and approve their plan tomorrow. We will con this fight elsewhere when obama era rules were challenged by the Internet Service providers in 2015, i led a congressional amicus brief with congresswoman eschew in support of rules. Congresswoman eschew and i plan to do the same thing this time andcu lead an amicus brief in defense of Net Neutrality. I also intend to file a Congressional Review Act or cra, resolution of disapproval with a number of my colleagues so that the United States senate can vote to undo chairman pais proposal and restore the 2015 open Internet Order. The Trump Administration is waging an allout assault on our core protections. Daca, the Affordable Care act, the paris climate accord, the clean power plan, and now trumps federal Communications Commission has put Net Neutrality in its sights. For all of those who rely upon the free and open internet, whether it is for commerce or education, health care or entertainment,al i urge you to join in this fight to create a firestorm of opposition to this assault on Net Neutrality. This is a fundamental attack upon the openness of the internet that must be beaten, and we must now form that army of ordinary americans as the voices that will fight the lobbyists and special interests in this city that want to shut down Net Neutrality forever. Thank you, madam president and i yield back. Madam president . Senator from michigan. Madam, president , there are a handful of innovations over the years that have redefined the United States and the entire world. The cotton gin, railroads, electricity and the automobile are just a few examples. However without question Broadband Internet is one of the defining innovations of our time. Broadband internet connects both rural and urban communities to Vital Services like telemedicine, educational resources, and international commerce. In fact Broadband Internet is absolutely essential for communications in the modern era. It lets us keep in touch with our loved ones no matter where they live, and it has boosted productivity across every single industry. And perhaps most importantly, Broadband Internet revolutionized our economy. It has led to millions of new jobs. The ability to instantly reach consumers wherever they live has allowed american Small Businesses and startups to compete with large, global in a way that would have been simply unimaginable just a couple of decade ago. Michigan is home to over 850,000 Small Businesses, and a growing number of startups. The new ideas and Creative Solutions they generate put america on the cuttingedge of a global and interconnected economy. Michigan Small Businesses are able to compete and innovate because of a free and open structure of the internet but unfortunately these opportunities are at risk. Tomorrow the fcc will vote to eliminate current Net Neutrality protections that stop large corporations from stifling Small Businesses and harming the American People. I think the facts are very straightforward. Andst the fcc is wrong. They should stop what they are doing and keep the current protections in place. The current rules that i have consistently supported prevent Internet Serviceve providers frm blocking, slowing, or prioritizing web traffic for their own financial gain at the expense of Small Businesses and everyday internet users. The fccs actions to roll back these protections could usher in a new era of a twotiered internet. One for the large corporations that can pay for the fast lane, and a slow lane for the rest of us. This will allow Internet Service providers and multinational corporations to compete unfairly against startups, slowing down their traffic and playing gatekeeper to potential customers. Let me be clear, repealing Net Neutrality is antiinnovation. Repealing Net Neutrality is anticompetition. And repealing Net Neutrality is anticonsumer. The fcc should not consider this proposal tomorrow to degrade Internet Service, especially during a time when over 20 million households in rural america, including far too many in my home state of michigan, still lack access to high Speed Broadband internet. The fcc has a lot of work to do to close the digital divide, and repealing Net Neutrality is taking our country backyards, not forward. If the internet doesnt work for growing Small Businesses and startups, our economy will be hurt for generations to come. HighSpeed Broadband and Net Neutrality ingh the 21st century is every bit as vital as electricity was in the 20th century. Allamericans deserve access, regardless of their income or their zip code. We accomplished the goal of bringing electricity to every household in this country in the last century, even in the most rural areas by making it a National Priority. We need to make access to broadband t internet with strong Net Neutrality protections a National Priority today. By preserving Net Neutrality we put students, artists, advocates, entrepreneurs and other vision naries who could be inventing future and creating the next big thing ahead of a handful of multinational corporations. The fcc should call off, call off this dangerous vote and instead work to insure the internet remains a hub of entrepreneurship, creativity, and competition. Madam president , i ask unanimous r consent the remaindr of my remarks appear elsewhere in the record . Without objection. madam president , over two months ago i stood here in this chamber urging my colleagues to passg legislation that will prevent kids enrolled in the Childrens HealthInsurance Program from losing their health care. The Childrens HealthInsurance Program or chip, provides Health Care Coverage to over 100,000 children in my home state of michigan and more than nine million childrenve nationwide. I recall welcoming the news that Senate Finance chairman hatch and Ranking Member wyden had reached a bipartisan agreement to extend the Health Care Benefits for these children. They worked together and they went through regular order. The finance Committee Held a hearing, and a markup on the bill in october. We all know that regular order haser become a very rare event n the senate today. And i appreciated a bipartisan effort to have a senate vote on a bill that is absolutely critical to our nations children. I certainly expected that this bipartisan bill would comehi to the floor and pass with broad birpartisan support, thus bringing relief to families across the nation who are worried whether their children will continue to have health care in 2018. Unfortunately in the months since those good faith efforts, we still have not seen a vote on this important legislation. Madam president , this sin excusable. We must take action now. States are already beginning to notify families that their Childrens Health care plansil y be canceled. Yes, canceled, if congress does not act. States like louisiana, texas, virginia and others announced they may runan out of fund withn weeks. In my home state of michigan i heard from parents who are worried whether their children will be t able to see their pediatrician next year. I also heard from pediatricians who take care of these children, how children will be hurt if their health care is taken away. It would be unconscionable to Rip Health Care services away from children during the most formative years of their life. It would be unconscionable to put new roadblocks up for families whose children need annual physicals and vaccines before they can go to school. And it would be unconscionable to c increase Health Care Costs for working families who are just trying to keep their childrenhy healthy and give them thee opportunity to prosper. This is not a partisan issue. In 1997 president bill clinton worked with a republican majority in both the senate and in the w house of representativs to successfully pass the Childrens HealthInsurance Program into law. That legislation passed with 85 voteste in the senate, because providing needed Health Services to children should never, ever be a partisan issue. The chip program has been reauthorized on a bipartisan basis since its inception because itep is effective. Chip is working for our nations children and we should be too. Madam president , i urge my colleagues across the aisle to call for a vote on this legislation to extend chip and pass it without delay. Lets do whats right for our countrys children and families and pass this Bipartisan Legislation now. Thank you, madam president. I yield the floor. Madam president. Senator from vermont. Madam president , before i begin id ask unanimous consent that nema panera, from my Judiciary Committee staff be granted floor privileges or remainder of 115th congress. Without objection. I thank the presiding officer. Madam president , this week the federal Communications Commission, the fcc, is preparing a giant, early, Christmas Present to a few deeppocketed telecom as it prepares to repeal what we call Net Neutrality protections. They are actually critical. Net neutrality is the simple principle that the internet should be free and open by preventing corporations that control the connections to selectivelyin throttle or block certain content, especially that of competitors. Repealing Net Neutrality rules will benefit just a few powerful corporations. It with i will do so at the expense of Small Businesses, consumers, hardworking americans whose persistent and passionate voices on this issue have been completely ignored by the fccs republican majority. Everybody has been calling for current Net Neutrality protections were developed. Chairman pai has failed to heed his own advice now that he is in charge of if the cc. He wanted public hearings before he was in charge. Now that he is in charge, we dont need public hearings anymore. Basically say the chairman knows better. The heck with you taxpayers. Seems only people he listened to with deep enough pockets who can afford highpowered lobbyists. If youre a concerned citizen or Small Business owner your voice doesnt matter to this fcc. As someone who held public hearings on this issue in 2014, i can tell you there is widespread and overwhelming support for Net Neutrality. Just about everywhere except the fcc itself. The chairman took the time to listen as i did, you would hear from Small Business owners like cabot at Vermont Country store who told me quote, were not asking for special treatment incentives or subsidies. All the Small BusinessCommunity Asks is simply to preserve and protect internet commerce as it exists today which has served all businesses remarkably well. Im hearing this from small and big businesses. Theyre saying they should all be protected for the competition. Just today received letter from businesses in northern new england, including vermonts own ben jerrys ice cream, Cabot Creamery cooperative and king arthur flour, discussing crippling effect a repeal of Net Neutrality rules woe have on rural businesses. Madam president , i ask unanimous consent a copy of this letter be placed in the record at the conclusion of my remarks. Without objection. Chairman pai would hear from for some Rural Communities are the only way to access the internet. I come from a small tate but every single senator here has rural areas in their states. Those rural areas have libraries and they need to be able to access the internet. As vermonts state librarian martha reed told me all americans, including the most disenfranchised citizens, those with no way to access the internet without the library, need to be able to use internet resources on equal footing. Chairman pai would also hear from independent content creators whose voices are tooen not heard on traditional media. Actor, writer producer, ruth told me in the unprecedented world of open, nondiscriminatory or in the unprecedented world of an open, nondiscriminatory internet no longer did low budgets and no connections mean that there is no way in. Never again could we be disregarded by anyone who essentially asked, who are you to have your story be told . Of course the answer, if you have Net Neutrality, you are whoever wants to tell you a story. These are the voices being ignored. They are the people the americans are going to stand to lose the most. The chairmans misguided plan. Now this is not about partisanship. Republicans and democrats call for an open internet. Republicans and democrats in my state, and every other state benefit from the power of an open internet but they also, republicans and democrats, they are going to be equally harmed if the rules of the road insuring openness goes away. None of us should support a process that willfully dismisses voice of our constituents. Ie would hope all senator was join me calling on the fcc to ban this reckless vote to repeal Net Neutrality, and i might add in conclusion, that i know there are some with a lot of money who want to do away with Net Neutrality. They even are filing thousands of fake comments with the fcc, saying thatth they want to do ay with Net Neutrality. One of those comments came to my attention. It had my name and my home address on it. Most people, they just laughed, they knew it was fake. I worry about who is spending money to make these fake comments. Madam president , i yield the floor. Madam president. Senator from minnesota. I rise today to join with the senator from vermont in opposition to the fccs planned vote to end Net Neutrality protections. Tomorrow as he noted the fcc will hold a vote on their plan to eliminate Net Neutrality on chairman pais plan. These rules have kept the internet free and open. In a day where a lot of things arent working this is something that was actually working. People were able to access the internet. People in my state that maybe didnt have a lot of resources, kids were able to Access Internet to do their homework. It was working. But if the fcc votes to abandon Net Neutrality it will put Internet Service providers, not consumers in charge of determining the future of the internet. Net neutrality holds Internet Service providers, big, megaInternet Service providers providing Internet Access consumers expect while protectingit innovation and competition. It is the bedrock of a fast, free and open internet. Net neutrality has allowed the internet to become one of the Great American success stories, transforming not only how we communicate with our friend and our family but the way we do business, how consumers buy goods,e how we educate our kids. These protections have worked. We have rural kids that couldnt access classes before who are able to get these classes on the internet. We have Small Businesses that are able to, that are able to adviseadvertise their services in a way that no one would have known that they existed. One of my favorite ones is a company called, weve got mail. They do chain jewelry. It is just a group of about 10, 15 employees up there starting with nothing but one chain, and then they are able to come up with a cool nickname. Then they were able to advertise on the internet directly to consumers. And now theyre one of the biggest employers in the town, right on the canadian border. These internet protections that have allowed Small Businesses to blossom and allowed consumers to access the internet like everyone else, they worked. With the fccs vote tomorrow the internet soon may be changing. Earlier this year when chairman pai announced proposal to eliminate Net Neutrality protections americans took the opportunity to make the voices heard during the Public Comment period and the proposal received a record 23 million comments. While many of these comments are written by consumers worried about the future of the internet there iso reason to be concerned about that t process. Approximately one million fraudulent comments were filed with the fcc, and an additional half a million comments were filed with russian email addresses. Sound familiar . I think so. Everyone in this chamber knows that russia has been trying to influence our democracy in every way they can from hacking to putting out propaganda to now trying to insert itself in a comment for our free and open internet. Something that has been the hallmark of american society. Something that they donty have in russia. Just think, an additional half a million comments were filed from russian email addresses. This is troubling because in america the Public Comment process matters. It was, it is one of the few opportunities americans have to weigh in directly with the fcc. That is why i joined several of my colleagues in calling on chairman pai to delay the vote until the fcc fully investigated these fake and foreign comments. Despite our calls, the fcc is still moving ahead with its vote. Me despite 23 million comments, they are still moving ahead with their vote. Under chairman pais plan, the fcc gives Internet Service providers the ability to significantly change consumers experiencenl online. Internet Service Providers may soon be able to block, slow, prioritize web trafficic for thr own financial gain. Not for the average citizens gain, for their g gain. This means that Internet Service providers could begin sorting online traffic into fast or slow lanes and charging consumers extra for highSpeed Broadband. They would also be able to slow consumers connections once they have hit a certain data limit or fairviewing content from a competitor. And an Internet Service providers may even block content they dont want their subscribers to access. So much for an open internet. The only protections maintained under the proposed order are requirements for Service Providers to disclose their internet traffic policies. However, for consumers with only one choice for Internet Service like many in my state, like many in rural areas, there is no real opportunity to comparison shop or find a new provider if they are unhappy with their service. This means that even though consumers may be aware that their Internet Service provider is blocking or slowing their connection, they actually dont have a choice. So what does that information matter to them anyway . This proposal will harm consumers, particularly in rural areas. It will limit competition and it will hurt Small Business entrepeneurship and a innovatio. What i have seen around this place is that everyone is talking about rural broadband. They want to expand broadband. I want to expand broadband. You can expand broadband all you want but it is not going to matter if people are not able to afford to access it. A truly open internet encourages Economic Growth and provides opportunities for businesses to reach new markets, drive innovation and create jobs. Small businesses remain engines of job creation and Net Neutrality levels of the playing field, allowing Small Companies to compete with more established brands. That is what america is about, allowing more innovation and Small Companies to come up and compete. Unfortunately for Small Businesses and startups across the country, the Net Neutrality repeal will mean new barriers when competing online. Without unrestricted access to the internet, entrepreneurs may be forced to pay for equal footing to compete online rather than focus on expanding their business. Small businesses unable to pay access to faster Internet Service may soon find themselves struggling to compete from the slow lane, not the fast lane. This proposal will hurt very people creating jobs and keeping our economy competitive. As a strong supporter of a free and open internet it is clear that repealing Net Neutrality is a step in the wrong direction. We are facing an increasingly global and interconnected economy and it is critical that the internet remain a hub of entrepreneurship, creativity, and fair competition. The fight to protect Net Neutrality iss far from over. We need to keep the pressure on. We have seen merger after merger after merger. We have seen consolidated businesses, bigger and bigger and bigger. So now, what is the next step here . To limit Net Neutrality, to make it harder for the small guys, for the ones trying to get in the market, to compete. It is not just an isolated philosophy here. It is part of a larger philosophy which means the Smaller Companies thatth individuals are going to have a hard time getting in the market and getting free access like the big guys. That is why we asked chairman pai to reconsider this vote on thursday, and to come up with a new policy that doesnt hurt the people of america. It is no surprise today that poll thatt i saw that it said te vast majority of americans dont favor getting rid of Net Neutrality. In fact it shows the vast majority of republicans dont favor getting rid of Net Neutrality. So we ask chairman pai, who was appointed by a republican president as chairman to reconsider this decision. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the