Net Neutrality

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, now, there is one final topic--net neutrality. Later today, Democrats will take the Senate another step toward the consideration of a resolution to restore net neutrality. When the Republican-led FCC voted to repeal net neutrality in December, they handed the large internet service providers all the cards. They said: Do what you will with the internet. Charge consumers more for faster service if you like or segment the internet into packages forcing the average family to purchase faster times for their favorite websites. Let big corporations purchase faster internet service while startups, small businesses, and consumers are left in the dust. Public schools, rural Americans, communities of color, or anyone in a remote area or without substantial resources could be at a significant disadvantage if the ISPs start charging more for decent internet.

People say: Well, let a private company do whatever it wants. Let them charge whatever they want. But in certain goods, which are essential, we don't do that--utilities, highways. The same thing now applies to the internet. It is a necessity, and we have to have protections for average folks, for small businesses, for working families. That is why Democrats are so concerned about net neutrality and why we are trying to restore it. We believe that the internet should be kept free and open like our highways--accessible and affordable to every American, regardless of the ability to pay. It is not that you don't pay; it is that if you are a little guy or gal, you shouldn't pay a lot more than the big shots. We don't do that on highways, we don't do that with utilities, and we shouldn't do it on the internet, which is another modern, 21st-century highway that is a necessity.

Every Democrat supports our net neutrality CRA, as well as one Republican, Senator Collins. Unlike most legislation, Democrats can force a vote on the floor of the Senate on our proposal. Today, Senator Markey will take the first step in that process. He is going to discharge the CRA from the Commerce Committee to the Senate calendar. That means we will have a vote on the ability to preserve net neutrality and help the little guy pay for services on the internet, and that will make that vote available next week. So I urge average Americans--young people, old people, everyone in between--and small businesses to email, call, write, visit your Senator on the Republican side, and urge them to preserve net neutrality. It is only right, it is only fair, and it makes economic sense.

No matter what, my friends on the other side are going to have to put themselves on the record on this issue. Whose side are you on--the big internet and cable providers or the average consumer who depends on the internet? This vote can be summed up in one phrase: Whose side are you on? I urge all Americans--particularly younger Americans who get this better than my generation because they have lived with the internet their whole life--to contact their Senators this week and next week before the vote and demand that their Senator restore net neutrality.

Americans, please contact your Senators. Your wallet and well-being, in ways far more significant than most things we do here, depend on it.

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