[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 155 (Wednesday, September 27, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6176-S6177]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         Nomination of Ajit Pai

  Mr. President, I want to express as well my concern regarding the 
renomination of Ajit Pai to be Chairman of the Federal Communications 
Commission. I will oppose his nomination. As much as I respect his 
background and his achievements, his intelligence and ability, I 
believe that, during his tenure over the past year, he has taken one 
step after another that is contrary to the public interest. He has 
launched an attack on net neutrality, and he is working adamantly for 
undoing the open internet order.
  The open internet order was established based on 10 years of evidence 
about how the internet has changed, and it was most recently fully 
upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit in June 2016. 
The most recent evidence shows that net neutrality has not inhibited 
network investment at all, in contrast to Chairman Pai's claim.
  On broadband privacy, Chairman Pai forcefully advocated in support of 
efforts to rescind the FCC's broadband privacy rules, a blatant attack 
on consumer privacy rights--all the more striking in light of recent 
dramatic concerns about privacy. Signing up for the internet should not 
mean that you have to sign away your rights to privacy, and that is why 
it is so important to have baseline privacy and data security rules 
that our broadband providers subscribe to, observe, and follow.
  Earlier this year, Senate Republicans gave broadband providers a 
green light to sell sensitive personal information to the highest 
bidder--a move that came with cheers of support from Chairman Pai. By 
supporting this measure, I think Chairman Pai raised severe doubts 
about his commitment to the average American consumer.
  One of Chairman Pai's first actions after his designation as chairman 
was to direct the FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau to overturn an 
order designating nine wireless companies to provide lifeline broadband 
service through the USF Lifeline Program, despite the assertion that 
his foremost goal was to close the internet and digital divide. I 
strongly criticized this decision and led a letter to Chairman Pai 
expressing that this action not only forfeits and affects these 
providers consumers' interests, but it may also have a chilling effect 
on other broadband providers that were interested in participating in 
the Lifeline broadband program. This action would limit choice and 
increase the cost of service for the lifeline participants.
  Finally, as Chairman of the FCC, Mr. Pai has a duty to review whether 
Sinclair's proposal to acquire Tribune Media complies with the FCC's 
broadcast media ownership rules and serves the public interest by 
promoting localism and diversity. Rather than scrutinizing this deal as 
closely and carefully as I believe he should, Mr. Pai has focused his 
efforts on loosening restrictions to enable the deal. This transaction 
not only blatantly violates existing rules, but it also abridges 
existing FCC policy. Those policies were just recently scrapped under 
Mr. Pai's watch.
  This action can only be explained by interest in prioritizing the 
demands of Sinclair over the public interest. It

[[Page S6177]]

also is no surprise that this decision happened just days before he had 
a meeting with the chairman of Sinclair.
  Every market impacted by this megamerger would experience a reduction 
in responsive local news due to Sinclair's unresponsive, top-down 
approach--denigrating diversity, diminishing our already distorted 
civic discourse, and devaluing local voices of women and people of 
color. Today, I sent a letter to Chairman Pai to let him know that 
blessing a media behemoth such as Sinclair-Tribune would reflect an 
abject failure on his part to protect the public interest and to uphold 
the FCC's duty to promote localism and diversity. Localism needs 
responsiveness to local interests, local news, and local voices. That 
is a trust the FCC has by its own rules and as a matter of public 
interest.

  Today we rely more than ever on the internet for so many facets of 
our everyday life: freedom of expression, education, healthcare, 
housing, entertainment, and more. Consumers need a champion that will 
be their voice at a time when so often the public interest is drowned 
by moneyed interests and special interests.
  Chairman Pai, far from our champion, seems to be more a servant of 
those interests. American consumers deserve better. My hope is, the 
President will nominate someone who can better serve those interests.
  Thank you.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Gardner). The Senator from Massachusetts.