[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 97 (Tuesday, June 11, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3304-S3305]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                  Unanimous Consent Request--H.R. 1644

  Mr. President, on behalf of Senator Cantwell and Senator Wyden and 
myself, I ask unanimous consent, as in legislative session, that the 
Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 74, H.R. 
1644, a bill to restore the open internet order

[[Page S3305]]

of the Federal Communications Commission; that the bill be considered 
read a third time and passed; and that the motions to reconsider be 
considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or 
debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, reserving the right to object--
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Mississippi.
  Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, I don't think the answer to the question 
is going to be a surprise to my friend from Massachusetts. I will only 
say this, and I will try to do it briefly. I have been amazed, over the 
last 1\1/2\ years and even longer, at the intense, overblown rhetoric 
about this issue of net neutrality and the hyperbole we have heard on 
the floor of the Senate and elsewhere.
  About 1\1/2\ years ago, the FCC voted on the Restoring Internet 
Freedom Order. It went into effect. It repealed what most of us 
considered a heavyhanded approach based on a law that took effect back 
in 1934.
  When the FCC implemented this new restoring internet freedom order 
back a year and a half ago, I was just astounded by what was being said 
by my friends on the left. One Senator warned that this was practically 
the end of Netflix, YouTube, and Amazon. Another cautioned:

       They want to get rid of the Federal Communications 
     Commission's net neutrality rules so that . . . Internet 
     Service Providers can indiscriminately charge more for 
     internet fast lanes, slow down websites, block websites, make 
     it harder and maybe even impossible for inventors, 
     entrepreneurs.

  One tweet from my friends on the Democratic side said: ``If we don't 
save net neutrality, you'll get the internet one word at a time.'' That 
quote got three Pinocchios from even the Washington Post.
  These things never happened. As a matter of fact, people on the other 
side of the issue who actually have taken the position of the Senator 
from Massachusetts have admitted that ISPs are delivering on consumers' 
expectations. They are not throttling websites.
  As a matter of fact, here is what has happened since the FCC order 
went into effect a year and a half ago: Broadband providers large and 
small have deployed fiber networks to 5.9 million new homes--the 
largest number ever recorded. More Americans are connected at higher 
speeds than ever before. Capital expenditures have rebounded from the 
slump they suffered when the internet was subjected to title II.
  This should surprise no one because the internet has thrived during 
Democratic and Republican administrations and during Democratic 
majorities on the FCC and Republican majorities on the FCC when we have 
taken the light-touch regulatory approach.
  The issue seems to be title II regulation of rates. I would simply 
say to my brothers and sisters on the other side of the aisle that we 
can pass a law tomorrow afternoon providing Americans with all the 
protection they want from blocking, throttling, and preventing paid 
prioritization. What we will not do and what this President will not 
sign is legislation authorizing the Federal Government to set internet 
rates in the old 1934 Bell System of title II regulations. For that 
reason, I do object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from Massachusetts.
  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, despite the Republican objections today, 
Senator Cantwell, Senator Wyden, and I, and tens of millions of people 
across this country will not stop fighting until net neutrality is 
fully restored. Whether in the Halls of Congress or in the courts of 
our country, this is going to be a fight that is fought until it is 
finally won.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.