Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2015 -- Motion to Proceed -- Continued
Floor Speech
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Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about a historic decision by the Federal Communications Commission. It was a 3-to-2 decision in a landmark case that will go down as a way to protect an open Internet economy. Consumers all across America should applaud this decision--and I know they will in the Pacific Northwest--because we will be protecting an aspect of our economy that has created thousands of jobs and millions of dollars.
This decision, known as Net neutrality, simply says that cable companies and telecom companies cannot artificially charge more on the Internet, thereby slowing down traffic or making a two-tier system in which some applications would be given access to faster service and others not, based on what they paid for.
This is an important decision because it champions an open Internet economy that has built so many new aspects of the way we communicate, the way we educate, and the way we continue to transact business around the globe. In 2010 the Internet economy accounted for 4.7 percent, or approximately $68 billion, of America's gross domestic product. Next year that Internet economy is expected to pass $100 billion and comprise 5.4 percent of our country's estimated $18 trillion GDP. So in 6 years the Internet's value has climbed over 30 percent.
What this decision says is: Let's protect the Internet. Let's not artificially tax it, let's not artificially slow it down, and let's not artificially create two tiers of an Internet system and stymie innovation. So many of us now know and enjoy the benefits the Internet provides when we buy a Starbucks coffee and use an app to pay for it or use an app to get on an airplane--and so many other ways that we communicate in an information age. Slowing all that down by just one second causes big problems and curtails an economy of growth.
We all know we have questions about the way cable companies and phone companies charge us for data. Let's make sure the Federal Communications Commission does its job by overseeing those companies that might want to charge more for those services than they need to charge. Let's keep an open Internet. Let's have Net neutrality be the law of the land.
I applaud the FCC for this historic decision today.
I thank the Chair, and I yield the floor.
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