Executive Calendar

Floor Speech

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Mr. WYDEN. Thank you, Mr. President.

Colleagues, this is the only resolution that provides a golden ticket to maintaining a free and open internet.

By way of a free and open internet--and I know a lot of folks are following this debate. I see folks in the Gallery. What a free and open internet is all about is, after you pay your internet access fee, you get to go where you want, when you want, and how you want. Everybody gets treated the same. A local florist selling roses out of their shop in Condon, OR, a kid in Roseburg who wants to learn about artificial intelligence, a mom in Pendleton who wants to find out about childcare--all of them get treated the same, and they get treated just like the big guys, the people with the deep pockets.

Now the head of the Federal Communications Commission, a gentleman named Mr. Pai, wants something very different. In effect, he wants to turn that on its head and start cutting deals for the people with the deep pockets. He would kind of like to have something called paid prioritization, which basically means that if you are one of the fortunate few, you can get faster speeds, more content, and you can get access to the kind of technological treasure trove that I have seen my colleague from the Pacific Northwest, Senator Cantwell, talk about. He has all kinds of schemes to essentially suggest that he really is helping the consumer when he is really working for the folks at the top.

One of my favorites, colleagues--and my friend from Massachusetts and I have discussed this--is that the head of the FCC from time to time discusses the idea that we would have voluntary net neutrality. It is hard to keep a straight face with this one, the idea that the big cable companies, the big communications monopolies, are going to do this voluntarily. I think that is about as likely as getting my 10-year-old son, William Peter Wyden, to limit the number of desserts he eats. It just isn't going to happen. It is not going to happen. I see some parents on the floor who can identify with that. So what we have to do is pass the Markey resolution and ensure that there is a real position at the Federal Communications Commission that has some teeth.

The fact is, since he came to town, since he came to this position, Mr. Pai has basically tried to water down this whole effort on net neutrality again and again--we don't need title II protection; we don't need any of the basics that have been part of this effort that we have made for well over a decade to ensure that net neutrality has real teeth.

My friend and colleague mentioned that he introduced the first one in the House. I introduced the first one in the Senate. The point is, we have been working on this for well over a decade in both Chambers.

One of the reasons we sought to take this action now is that not only is Mr. Pai moving ahead to offer this ominous, dangerous definition of ``net neutrality,'' but we believe there is going to be a grassroots juggernaut all across the country saying that now is the time to be in touch with your Members of Congress to let them know how strongly you feel about this.

I just attended nine townhall meetings in Oregon. Most of them were in rural areas. Net neutrality for rural communities, folks, is a prerequisite to making sure you are not a sacrifice zone. Without good communications, how do you maintain, for example, rural healthcare?

I am very pleased to be out here with my friends--Senator Cantwell, who knows so much about this issue; a former Governor, Senator Hassan, who is very knowledgeable on these issues. Those of us from small States, like Senator Hassan and me, know that this is really a lifeline. This is how you get access to the big financial markets. This is how you get access to the communication centers. This is how a kid in a small town in New Hampshire or a small town in Oregon gets a fair shake and has fair opportunity to get ahead, just like a kid who lives in Beverly Hills.

We are going to be back on this floor frequently between now and next week when we will seek to advance the Markey resolution. I will close the way I began, colleagues. There is no path to a free and open internet without the Markey resolution. This is the golden ticket, this is the only ticket, and I hope folks all across the country will see how important this is and weigh in with their Senators in the days ahead.

Mr. President, thanks to my colleague for her courtesy.

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