No Rate Regulation of Broadband Internet Access Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. McNERNEY. Mr. Chairman, I rise to offer an amendment to H.R. 2666. This amendment would help to rein in some of the unintended consequences of the bill by preserving the FCC's authority to act in the public interest, convenience, and necessity.

The public interest is a key principle that the Commission has used to protect consumers since Congress first created the agency in 1934, and it is just as important today.

The FCC has consistently looked to the public interest standard when taking action to protect consumers, foster innovation, and increase competition.

The standard has been a hallmark of many of the most important policies of the Commission. To give you a sense, the words ``public interest'' appear over 100 times in the Communications Act. That is 100 times. That is how pervasive it is.

Even with the amended version of the bill that was reported out of committee, serious concerns remain that the bill is going to have far- reaching and unintended consequences.

For example, it could be that the Commission would no longer be able to investigate data caps, pay for privacy practices.

The Commission could also lose further protections for various types of unfair and discriminatory practices that affect how much they pay for broadband.

My amendment would seek to limit some of those unintended consequences by ensuring that the Commission continues to have the authority that has historically served it so well.

Moreover, by preserving the FCC's authority to act in the public interest, my amendment would safeguard the broad aims that the Communication Act embodies.

This amendment would continue to appropriately focus the FCC toward promoting the public good. I urge my Members to support it.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. McNERNEY. Mr. Chairman, I certainly appreciate--or I sort of appreciate the chairman's comments, and I do appreciate the idea of broadness here; but if you look at what the actual bill says, ``may not regulate rates charged for broadband Internet services,'' that is the definition of broad. You can't get any broader than that. So we want to rein that in a little bit.

We don't want unintended consequences out here, but let me say what my amendment says. ``Act in the public interest, convenience, and necessity.''

Would the chairman like it if I took out ``convenience''? Should I just say ``act in the public interest and necessity''? Would that be good enough, Mr. Chairman?

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. McNERNEY. I yield to the gentleman from Oregon.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. McNERNEY. Well, again, I appreciate the chairman's and Mr. Kinzinger's work on this, and I appreciate working with the chairman on this, but I am going to have to insist that we look at this amendment and take it seriously. I do want to protect the public interest. That is really what this comes down to.

Again, the term shows up 100 times in the act, so let's not turn our back on the intent of the act. Let's move forward in a way that protects the public interest.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. McNERNEY. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source