Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., is leading the first
legislative effort to roll back the federal government’s decision to start
regulating the Internet as a utility, calling Thursday’s action by the Federal
Communications Commission the start of the “Obamanet” and a guarantee of more
taxes for Internet consumers.
On Thursday, by a party line 3-2 vote, the FCC approved a
plan commonly known as net neutrality, but which critics like Blackburn see as
unnecessary government intrusion into the private sector.
“This is the day the ObamaNet was born,” said
Blackburn, who is vice chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
“The Internet is not broken. It does not need the FCC’s help and assistance in
order to be productive or profitable.”
Coverage and analysis of the FCC’s net neutrality decision
has been fairly limited, with both experts and consumers finding the issue very
complicated. Blackburn said the impact of this is clear and very significant.
“The FCC will now reclassify broadband services from an
information service to a telecommunications service. They will do this under a
1930s-era law, the Telecommunications Act. They will thereby subject the
Internet to taxes, regulation, international considerations that are now put on
our wire-lined phones. So this is a step backward; it is not a step forward,”
said Blackburn, who stresses that the private market was serving consumers just
fine.
“It’s a sad day when you see the Federal Communications
Commission coming in and preceding your Internet service provider,
your ISP, in the governance of the Internet,” she said. “Basically, what you’re
going to see is the FCC will now be able to assign priority and value to
content because they will be in charge of controlling pricing and fees.”
Blackburn said higher taxes on Americans’ Internet bills are
not a possibility but a guarantee. And how much more will Americans be paying?
“You’ve got estimates that run from a few billion dollars in
additional taxes to as high as $15 billion,” she said. “So at this point, I
think it’s ‘pick a number,’ but everybody agrees the cost is going to go up
because of taxes and fees.”
Listen to the WND/Radio America interview with Rep. Marsha
Blackburn, R-Tenn.:
http://www.wnd.com/2015/02/gop-pretty-fired-up-about-blocking-obamanet/
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