{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.durbin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/durbin-duckworth-call-on-fcc-to-abandon-plan-to-repeal-net-neutrality-rules", "Durbin, Duckworth Call on FCC to Abandon Plan to Repeal Net Neutrality Rules", "2017-12-12", "2017", "2017-12", "Democrat", "House", "IL", "Richard Durbin", "D000563", "www.durbin.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "12.12.17\n\t\t\t Durbin, Duckworth Call on FCC to Abandon Plan to Repeal Net Neutrality Rules \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWASHINGTON\u2014U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today sent a letter urging Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai to abandon his plan to repeal the agency\u2019s net neutrality rules, which would give internet providers the ability to freely block or slow down consumers\u2019 access to the internet.\u00a0\r\nThe senators\u2019 letter comes ahead of a Thursday vote by the FCC to dismantle the net neutrality protections.\r\n\u201cYour plan gives a broadband provider the ability to significantly alter their subscribers\u2019 internet experience,\u201d the lawmakers wrote.\u00a0 \u201cOnce adopted, this proposal will permit that provider to freely block, slow down or manipulate a consumer\u2019s access to the internet as long as it discloses those practices \u2013 no matter how anti-consumer \u2013 somewhere within mounds of legalese in a new \u2018net neutrality\u2019 policy.\u00a0 \u2026It is a stunning regulatory overreach.\u201d\r\nThe letter was led by U.S. Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL), and signed by U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI), Jack Reed (D-RI), Gary C. Peters (D-MI), Patty Murray (D-WA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Jon Tester (D-MT), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Angus S. King, Jr. (I-ME), Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), Robert P. Casey (D-PA), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Jeffrey A. Merkley (D-OR), Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT), Kamala D. Harris (D-CA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Bernard Sanders (I-VT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Tom Udall (D-NM), Margaret Wood Hassan (D-NH), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Al Franken\u00a0 (D-MN), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD),Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Cory A. Booker\u00a0 (D-NJ), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ).\r\nText of the letter is below.\u00a0 To view a pdf of the letter, click here.\r\nDecember 12, 2017\r\nThe Honorable Ajit Pai\r\nChairman\r\nFederal Communications Commission\r\n445 12th St., SW\r\nWashington, DC 20554\r\nDear Chairman Pai:\r\nWe write to urge you to abandon your reckless plan to radically alter the free and open internet as we know it.\u00a0 Your proposed action will amount to the largest abdication of the Federal Communications Commission\u2019s (FCC\u2019s) statutory responsibilities in history.\r\nAt its inception, Congress delegated to the FCC the primary responsibility to protect consumers and the public interest with respect to the nation\u2019s communications networks.\u00a0 With your current proposal, you have now decided to throw overboard those long-standing responsibilities \u2013 and consumers with them.\u00a0 In short, you are walking away from your statutory duties and effectively eliminating FCC oversight over high-speed internet access.\r\nYour plan gives a broadband provider the ability to significantly alter their subscribers\u2019 internet experience.\u00a0 Once adopted, this proposal will permit that provider to freely block, slow down or manipulate a consumer\u2019s access to the internet as long as it discloses those practices \u2013 no matter how anti-consumer \u2013 somewhere within mounds of legalese in a new \u201cnet neutrality\u201d policy.\r\nYour proposal also makes sure that no other state or local government can fill this gaping consumer protection void by preempting them from adopting their own open internet consumer protections.\u00a0 It is not enough for the FCC to turn its back on consumers.\u00a0 You willfully plan to tie the states\u2019 hands to prevent them from protecting their own residents.\u00a0 It is a stunning regulatory overreach.\r\nUnderlying your plan is the false notion that your action will return the internet to the supposed halcyon days of \u201clight touch\u201d regulation in the past.\u00a0 This notion \u2013 that the way the agency approached internet access in the 1990s and early 2000s is the perfect approach today \u2013 ignores the very different role that the internet plays in 2017.\u00a0 Over the past 20 years, internet communications have become widely adopted and relied on by American homes and businesses.\u00a0 Yet, your plan ignores the central and critical role that access to a free and open internet plays in Americans\u2019 lives and the role that the nation\u2019s expert communications agency should play with respect to the networks underlying that access.\u00a0 Moreover, your assertion that your plan returns internet access to the way it was before is not correct.\u00a0 Even under the Bush-era FCC, the agency adopted open internet principles and held out the threat of regulatory action to combat harmful activity.\u00a0 Your plan eradicates even that backstop and leaves Americans without a regulatory safety net.\r\nThe future of the internet hangs in the balance.\u00a0 The FCC\u2019s responsibilities over the nation\u2019s communications networks remain, and are more crucial than ever, as the internet has become fundamental to every aspect of our society.\u00a0 On behalf of our constituents \u2013 and future generations of Americans \u2013 we urge you to abandon this radical and reckless plan to turn the FCC\u2019s back on consumers and the future of the free and open internet.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.durbin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/durbin-duckworth-call-on-fcc-to-abandon-plan-to-repeal-net-neutrality-rules"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9556189179420471, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}