{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/net-neutrality-showdown-leahy-and-other-senators-use-fcc-chairs-own-words-to-urge-him-to-delay-thursdays-vote-until-full-impact-can-be-considered", "NET NEUTRALITY SHOWDOWN Leahy & Other Senators Use FCC Chair's Own Words To Urge Him To Delay Thursday's Vote, Until Full Impact Can Be Considered", "2017-12-08", "2017", "2017-12", "Democrat", "House", "VT", "Patrick Leahy", "L000174", "www.leahy.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "12.08.17\n\t\t\t NET NEUTRALITY SHOWDOWN Leahy & Other Senators Use FCC Chair's Own Words To Urge Him To Delay Thursday's Vote, Until Full Impact Can Be Considered \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tAs Next Week\u2019s Threatened Repeal Of Net Neutrality Rules Looms, Leahy And Other Senators, In A Letter To FCC Chair Pai, Use Pai\u2019s Own Words To Urge Delay Of The Net Neutrality Vote Until The Full Impact Of Repeal Can Be Faithfully Considered\r\nWASHINGTON (FRIDAY, Dec. 8, 2017) \u2013 Continuing the fight against next week\u2019s threatened repeal of net neutrality rules, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and other senators, led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), are urging Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai to delay the FCC\u2019s December 14 vote on repealing net neutrality rules until the full impact of repeal can be faithfully considered, in accordance with Pai\u2019s own earlier standards of rulemaking.\r\nLeahy for years has been a leader in pressing for net neutrality rules, and he brought the Senate Judiciary Committee to Vermont to hear directly from Vermont businesses, nonprofit organizations and citizens about the harm that would directly come from installing \u201ctoll booths\u201d on the Internet.\r\nIn a letter sent to Pai on Friday, Blumenthal and Leahy, joined by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), quoted Pai\u2019s statements from his dissent of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the 2015 Open Internet Order, which established the rules \u2013 known as net neutrality \u2013 that protect the open internet. In his dissent, Pai reprimanded his FCC colleagues for their failure to \u201cgive the American people a full and fair opportunity to participate in this process,\u201d and \u201censure that [FCC\u2019s] decisions are based on a robust record.\u201d To meet these standards, Pai suggested commissioning a series of studies by ten economists that would fully evaluate the impact of net neutrality.\r\n\u201cAccordingly,\u201d wrote the senators, \u201cwe ask that you heed your own advice and delay your planned vote on this item until you have faithfully executed all of the steps outlined above and provided the American people \u2018a full and fair opportunity to participate in this process.\u2019\u201d\r\nThe full text of the senators\u2019 letter is available for download here, and copied below.\r\nDear Chairman Pai:\r\nWe understand that you intend the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to vote on your draft order to dismantle our current net neutrality rules at the upcoming Open Commission Meeting on Thursday, December 14. We write calling on you to delay this vote.\r\nAs you will remember, in your dissent of the 2015 Open Internet Order (Protecting and Promoting the Open Internet, GN Docket No. 14-28), you stated:\r\n \r\n\u201cGoing forward, we need to give the American people a full and fair opportunity to participate in this process. And we must ensure that our decisions are based on a robust record.\r\n\u201cSo what is the way forward? Here is one suggestion. Just as we commissioned a series of economic studies in past media-ownership proceedings, we should ask ten distinguished economists from across the country to study the impact of our proposed regulations and alternative approaches on the Internet ecosystem. To ensure that we obtain a wide range of perspectives, let each Commissioner pick two authors. To ensure accuracy, each study should be peer reviewed. And to ensure public oversight, we should host a series of hearings where Commissioners could question the authors of the studies and the authors of those studies could discuss their differences. Surely the future of the Internet is no less important than media ownership.\r\n\u201cBut we should not limit ourselves to economic studies. We should also engage computer scientists, technologists, and other technical experts to tell us how they see the Internet\u2019s infrastructure and consumers\u2019 online experience evolving. Their studies too should be subject to peer review and public hearings.\u201d\r\n \r\nAccordingly, we ask that you heed your own advice and delay your planned vote on this item until you have faithfully executed all of the steps outlined above and provided the American people \u201ca full and fair opportunity to participate in this process.\u201d It is vital that all aspects of the draft order are subject to the same peer review and public hearings you have always advocated. This is necessary to ensure \u201cour decisions are based on a robust record.\u201d\r\nThank you for your immediate attention to this matter.\r\n# # # # #\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t Press Contact \n\t\t\t\tDavid Carle: 202-224-3693\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\t\n\t\n\t\n  \n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 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.leahy.senate.gov/press/net-neutrality-showdown-leahy-and-other-senators-use-fcc-chairs-own-words-to-urge-him-to-delay-thursdays-vote-until-full-impact-can-be-considered"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.9161959644407034, "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"}