[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 157 (Monday, October 2, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S6247]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                        Las Vegas Mass Shooting

  Madam President, now, if I may, I would like to express my sympathies 
and the sympathies of the people of Nebraska for those who have lost 
loved ones in Las Vegas. Our hearts are heavy. I am praying for them 
and for those who were injured and for their families as well.
  Thank you, Madam President.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Ms. CANTWELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Ms. CANTWELL. Madam President, I come to the floor today to speak 
about the vote we will have at 5:30 p.m., but I want to give my 
condolences to those who have been impacted by the horrific shooting in 
Las Vegas and to the families and the victims of this horrible 
incident. I want them to know that our thoughts and prayers are with 
them as the whole Nation turns to this situation.
  My thoughts and prayers also go out to at least one Washington family 
who was impacted and was at this event. We may find out that there are 
others. We are thinking and praying deeply for their recovery, and I 
hope everybody will take the time to say some thoughts and prayers for 
those who have been impacted by this incident.
  Madam President, I come to the floor to speak in opposition to the 
nomination of Ajit Pai to have a second term as the Chairman of the 
FCC. The reason why we are speaking about this vote that will happen in 
a short period of time is because we are concerned about the future of 
innovation, the future of where consumers play in the decision making 
of how they access content, and the future of our economy.
  What I am worried about is that, in the short period of time that 
Chairman Pai has been at the FCC, instead of the policies that would 
have enabled consumers, he has taken actions that, I think, will have 
consumers paying more for less access and with which media 
concentration will be more enabled and plans to protect net neutrality 
in an open internet will be reversed.
  This, in and of itself, is the biggest issue that I and the economy 
of Washington State could possibly see with this renomination; that is 
to say, the State of Washington and the internet and innovation that 
exists there could be greatly impacted by the rolling back of 
protections that we have now, which say that you cannot artificially 
throttle or slow down internet activity and hold consumers hostage to 
paying more.
  The mission of the FCC is to promote the use and deployment of 
communications in the public interest, and it is the job of the 
Chairman to make sure that mission is carried out. Undoing the existing 
net neutrality laws on the books, I do not think, is in the public 
interest, and it will not promote the access we need. Dismantling this 
rule that would preserve the diversity of content will negatively 
impact our marketplace for a long time.
  When we think about some of the issues that we have already seen and 
what we could see in the future, more consumers will have to pay a toll 
to use the internet. What we will see is that, if you want to get in 
the fast lane or if you want to have rapid access, you have to pay 
more.
  Today consumers are using mobile apps to preorder coffee, to get 
access to healthcare information, and to make sure that we protect 
ourselves from attacks on everything, from our electricity grid to 
people's homes and security systems. I am very worried that, if the 
internet's arteries are officially slowed down or clogged, critical 
information could arrive too late to help protect consumers.
  We are living in a world where people are seeing things happen then 
using their smart phones to collect and share information that can keep 
all of us safe. So this is another reason why we want to make sure that 
consumers can get access to and share information and are not slowed 
down or throttled in any way.
  When we think about this and the app economy that exists in 
Washington State, these are the fastest growing businesses. It is part 
of a large organization, where, today, 1.7 million Americans' jobs are 
because of these apps, and nearly 92,000 of them are in the State of 
Washington. They have grown at an annual rate of 30 percent. The 
average growth rate for all other jobs is 1.6 percent. Why would we 
confirm someone who has already pledged to roll back the rules of an 
open internet, which basically will create throttling and slowing down 
of content that will hurt the app economy and small businesses?
  Nobody wants to develop a new application that connects consumers--
whether it is in healthcare or protecting people in cyber or education 
or, for that matter, even the Senate--if they are going to have to pay 
a toll to get faster access to information or to get faster access to 
their customers.
  Dismantling net neutrality puts our economy in jeopardy. While I know 
some would say that it is necessary for investment, I would say that 
instead what we have seen in the last several years, while the open 
internet rules have been in place, is the type of increased investment 
in the internet infrastructure that is needed to support its growing 
importance.
  I do not agree with my colleagues who think this reversing the open 
internet rules is necessary to grow our investments. That's just what 
the large cable companies tell you they need so that they can build 
fast and slow lanes and charge consumers more if they want access to 
those fast lanes.
  I encourage my colleagues to vote no on Ajit Pai for a second term as 
FCC Commissioner. Let's get focused on making sure we protect an open 
internet.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Moran). The Senator from Massachusetts.