Schakowsky Statement on Net Neutrality Ruling

Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, a Chief Deputy Whip and Ranking Member of the Energy and Commerce Committee’s Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection Subcommittee, issued the following statement after the Federal Communications Commission voted on partisan lines to dismantle net neutrality:

“FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s attack on net neutrality cedes control of the Internet to powerful broadband providers at the expense of small businesses and consumers. It fits right in line with the Republican agenda to favor the wealthiest corporations while eliminating protections for the rest of us.

“Under the FCC’s order today, broadband providers will be allowed to control consumers’ access to content. They will be allowed to charge content providers to make websites load faster or slower. Small businesses may not be able to compete online if they now have to pay every broadband provider across the country in order for their website to work as well as a big corporate competitor’s. And in a chilling attack on free speech, broadband providers could also block content altogether.

“Ending the free and open Internet is an anti-democratic, anti-consumer move that Ajit Pai, Donald Trump, and their corporate cronies thought they could sneak past the American people. They were wrong. The FCC received millions of public comments. Just in the last two weeks, I have received hundreds of calls and thousands of emails from constituents asking me to keep up the fight to save net neutrality. This fight isn’t over. As net neutrality supporters challenge the FCC’s action in court, my House colleagues and I will be introducing legislation to reinstate net neutrality protections. We will keep fighting to keep the Internet free, open, and democratic.”