{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.reed.senate.gov/news/releases/reed-urges-fcc-to-abandon-plans-to-repeal-net-neutrality", "Reed Urges FCC to Abandon Plans to Repeal Net Neutrality", "2017-12-13", "2017", "2017-12", "Democrat", "House", "RI", "Jack Reed", "R000122", "www.reed.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "12/13/2017\u00a0\u2014\u00a0WASHINGTON, DC \u2013 With the Trump Administration gearing up to repeal net neutrality this week, U.S. Senator Jack Reed is urging the Administration to keep the Internet open, free, and with equal access for all.\u00a0 This week, Senator Reed joined 38 colleagues in sending a letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai urging the agency to abandon plans to repeal net neutrality rules in favor of giving Internet providers the ability to freely block or slow down consumers\u2019 access to the Internet. \u00a0Reed says that doing so could negatively impact consumers, businesses, and our democracy by putting people who can\u2019t pay for preferential treatment online at a disadvantage.\u00a0 \u00a0\r\n\u201cYour plan gives a broadband provider the ability to significantly alter their subscribers\u2019 Internet experience,\u201d the Senators wrote. \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 'net neutrality\u2019 policy. \u2026It is a stunning regulatory overreach.\u201d\r\nThe letter also highlights the inaccuracy of the Trump Administration\u2019s claims that the move to repeal net neutrality would harken back to the supposed success of \u201clight touch\u201d regulation in the 1990s and early 2000s, and notes the entirely different and now central role the Internet plays in modern-day life.\r\n\u201cOver the past 20 years, Internet communications have become widely adopted and relied on by American homes and businesses,\u201d the letter continues.\u00a0 \u201cYet, 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.\u201d\r\n\u201cThe future of the Internet hangs in the balance,\u201d the Senators continued.\u00a0 \u201cThe 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.\u201d\r\nIn addition to Senator Reed, the letter was signed by Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Gary Peters (D-MI), Patty Murray (D-WA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Jon Tester (D-MT), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Edward Markey (D-MA), Angus King (I-ME), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Robert Casey (D-PA), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Bernie Sanders (D-VT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Tom Udall (D-NM), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Al Franken (D-MN), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-NV), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Tim Kaine (D-VA), and Bob Menendez (D-NJ).\r\nAdditionally, Senator Reed led another letter to the FCC today highlighting the detrimental effect a net neutrality repeal would have on America\u2019s libraries and on those who depend on their local libraries for Internet access.\u00a0\u00a0\r\n\u201cOur nation\u2019s 120,000 libraries depend on equitable and robust access to the Internet to provide a wide range of vital services to meet the needs of their respective communities,\u201d the Senators wrote.\u00a0 \u201cThis is especially true in rural areas, where more than 83 percent of libraries report they serve as their community\u2019s only provider of free Internet and computing services.\u00a0 Millions of Americans who do not have broadband access at home depend on the availability of Internet access at their local libraries. \u00a0From helping with homework to searching for work and starting a small business to applying for jobs and government assistance and paying taxes\u2014people come to libraries to fulfill essential functions of daily life.\u201d\r\n\u201cA world in which this information may be limited to the Internet\u2019s \u2018slow lanes\u2019 while other content generated by large corporations who can pay for preferential treatment undermines a central tenet of a democratic society,\u201d the letter continues. \u00a0\u201cBy and large, our public institutions cannot afford to pay for prioritized Internet access. \u00a0Those who can pay will likely have their uses of the Internet prioritized ahead of education and other public interests, with significant negative consequences to communities across the nation.\u201d\u00a0\r\nOther signers of the letter include Senators Leahy, Markey, Gillibrand, Whitehouse, Baldwin, Brown, Warren, Blumenthal, Wyden, Sanders, Hirono, Cortez-Masto, and Van Hollen.\r\nYesterday, Senator Reed spoke on the Senate floor in defense of net neutrality, noting:\u00a0 \u201cI urge my colleagues to join me in opposition to the FCC\u2019s proposed dismantling of the net neutrality rules. \u00a0It is important. \u00a0It is important for our constituents.\u00a0 It is important for our small businesses.\u00a0 It is important for our future generations as they prepare for a very complicated and challenging world, and, for some of them, the only way to get access to the computer is the public library.\u00a0 The only access for a small business to the marketplace on the net is being able to afford to be on the net.\u00a0 That is all in jeopardy today.\u00a0 I hope we can stop these net neutrality rule appeals, and do it immediately.\u201d\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t  \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", 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