WASHINGTON, DC - The House Energy and Commerce Committee today circulated a bipartisan Dear Colleague letter encouraging House members to protect jobs and the open and free Internet. Reps. Collin Peterson (D-MN) and Dan Boren (D-OK) joined Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Vice Chair Lee Terry (R-NE) on a letter written by Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) urging members to cosponsor H.J.Res 37, a congressional resolution disapproving the Federal Communications Commission’s controversial Internet Rules.
“The Internet has been open and free -and should stay that way. That’s why I have exercised the authority under the Congressional Review Act to introduce H.J.Res. 37, a simple resolution that would nullify the FCC’s launch of a government takeover of the Internet," wrote Walden.
The letter notes that a 1999 speech by Clinton-era FCC Chairman William Kennard rebuffed calls to force open access, stating that “[t]he fertile fields of innovation across the communications sector and around the country are blooming because from the get-go we have taken a deregulatory, competitive approach to our communications structure - especially the Internet."
The letter also highlights support from small cable and Internet provider Amy Tykeson, CEO of BendBroadband. Tykeson said, “How will companies like BendBroadband be able to compete if we bear the brunt of the regulations while the giants, like Google, Amazon and Netflix, go free? …The [FCC] Chairman has picked winners and losers in this recent effort to impose “˜net neutrality’ regulations. These efforts will cost jobs, stall innovation and dampen investment."
On Tuesday, March 15, 2011, the full committee is scheduled to vote on the Resolution of Disapproval.
