Generation. Last night the people of alabama elected a new senator to represent them here in washington. So, now republicans who control the senate faced a choice will bwhilethey allow the senator elt jones to take a seat among his colleagues before a final vote on the tax plan . We know something about that kind of choice in my home state of massachusetts. On january 19, 2010 massachusetts elected a new senator to represent them here in washington. The result was just as shocking to democrats as last nights result was to republicans. It also came when weave we weree middle of another historically important policy debate heren in washington. Health care. A lot of people thought democrats should ram through the final version of the bill in congress before become could be seated. I could stand here and read you quote after quote from republicans who now control the senate talking about how unfair that would be, how corrupt it would be and how antidemocratic that would be. I could go on and on about how todays Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell said this would be gamesmanship. But i want to talk about what the democrats actually did. Democrats rejected the idea of ramming through the bill before brown could take his seat in the senate. Almost immediately, a democratic senator from virginia called for a suspension of any healthcare vote until after brown arrived. The day after the massachusetts election. The Senate Majority leader harry reid said publicly we are going to wait until the new senator arrives until we do anything more on healthcare. Massachusetts democratic senator john kerry held a joint press conference with republican scott brown that same week where he said, quote, seeking scott brown is expeditiously as possible is important. We want to respect the Election Results and nobody wants to delay this process. President obama whose entire health care and was on the line said this. Heres one thing i know and i just want to make sure that this is off the table. The senate certainly shouldnt try to jam anything through until scott brown is seated. People in massachusetts spoke. Hes got to be part of the process. Now this wasnt an easy decision. Waiting for brown slowed down the adoption of health care for two additional mom is. Importantly it meant the democrats f lost their filibustr first majority and as a consequence, the final bill couldnt achieve nearly as much as democrats had hoped for, but we did it anyway. We did it because democracy matters even when it means it might slow down a president s agenda. Democracy matters even when they senate is seated for decades by a libera liberal lie in line ann over by a conservative. Democracy matters especially when it is inconvenient. If we are honest, we know there hasnt been a lot of democracy around this tax bill. This is a bill that was written and rewritten in the dead of night beyond the closest stores. Its filled with unintended consequences. Its animated by a love and wealth transfer from hardworking americans to a handful of corporations and billionaires. But up until now, we have at least respectedh the principle that each state gets two tickets senators into those senators get to vote for or against the final product. This afternoon we are being told that republicans have a final taxut bill. We could be voting on it in the next couple of days. There is no reason to ram of massivet kind restructuring of our Economic System before alabama gets its new senator unless republicans are concerned that their deal wont withstand a couple of weeks of public scrutiny. The election of doug jonesar wot change which Party Controls the senate. F the election will not give him more democrats the power to block the tax bill or any other piece oft legislation. It will respect the people of alabama and their choice. It should have been before any more ta attacks would take placn the senate. Mr. President i would like to speak on another matter now and i ask consent i. E. Speech appear in the appropriate place in the record. Without objection. America entered the space age [inaudible] over 60 years ago america entered the space age and pushed the bounds of Human Knowledge and to create things that fundamentally change the way we live our lives and the government was right smack at the center of all of it dedicating resources and man power to exploration science, engineering and technology. The Research Projects agency was a product of that commitment and it was unfair that a bunch of government and governmentfunded researchers created the internet. In the intervening decades would start to conduct Government Agency provided the Building Blocks for what we experience as the internet today, creating at colleges and universities, businesses and homes and garages all across the country, toys and tinkered and pushed us into the digital age. Today internet use is nearly universal although Internet Access remains limited in many rural and lowincome areas, students of all ages go online to access educational tools and conduct research for many school assignments. Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses sell goods and transact Business Online and families come together to watch their favorite movies or shows. The internet and Broadband Services have become an important part of our lives. And the government is just as important now as it was back when the internet was created. By enforcing and implementing Americas Communications laws and rules, the federal communications commission, the fcc plays a Critical Role in making sure the internet remains fair and open. In 2015, the fcc and try and do that commitment in a and open Internet Order establishing that neutrality rules, strong Public Interest rules that prevented Big Companies from deciding how or when we use the internet, rules that had the overwhelming support of the vast majority of republican or democrat. But the entrenched companies dont want them to work in the Public Interest. They want the internet to work for them. Long before they test Net Neutrality rules they were working to establish control and effort than its naturaafter the rules were passed they stepped up deploying lobbyists and lawyers and amassing Net Neutrality rules and now theyve got the champagne chilled and ready to pop open. They have a president and gop controlled congress thats more interested in stuffing the pockets of the rich andng the powerful then taking care of the workers, Small Businesses and entrepreneurs,ic students, children, the sick, the elderly into just abouand just about ev. And president s choice to believe the fcc is dedicated to transforming the fcc from an agency that works in the Public Interest into a big business giveaway group. A vocal opponent of the Net Neutrality rules for a long time after President Trump won the election, he declared that neutrality days were numbered and claimsim nondiscrimination rules harmed the giant Internet Companies by making it more difficult for them to create new and better products and he thinks if they can discriminate against Small Businesses or individuals that they can pick who gets the fast lane into your television set. If they can dictate which startups get a foothold and whichon ones are left on the ground, then they will bell betr off and of course hes right, they will be better off but everyone else will be worse off, a lot worse off. Thent tremendous so committed to these internet giants that hes willing to rewrite the federal rules in order to help them out, and he is even willing to rewrite them so state and local governments would be allowed to pass in a Consumer Protection laws to protect their own citizens. The notion of a fair and open internet is one that works for the highest bidder and it leaves everybody else behind. Tomorrow the fcc will vote on whether to eliminate the protections that ensure that the internet remains fair and open to all americans. Protection o but the vast majory of americans support. He spared old. Fullstop ahead despite disturbing reports that potentially hundreds of thousands of comments made during the Public Comment period were fake and hes ignored the responsibility to turn over documents of consumer complaints about discriminatory behavior by internet providers. If the fcc eliminates that neutrality protection, giant Internet Companies will pop open their champagne bottles. They will have the power to block access, filter content, to charge more. Three powerful ways that they pick the next round of americas winners and losers. That isnt the way that it should work in america. The internet doesnt belong to it belongs to all of us and all of us should be part of this fight. Net neutrality matters. For the entrepreneur working around the clock on a shoestring budget it can change the world. Net neutrality matters. To the small Family Business that depends on Online Customer customers to keep the lights open and iphone an and persol income and neutrality matters. For the local journalist that works each day to bring Important News about the communities, the government and our world, Net Neutrality matters. For every american who uses the internet for any reason, Net Neutrality matters. It is americas dna, the spirit of curiosity and adventure that puts us at the forefront for the search of what is next. What the fcc has. Host to keep rolling back protections that insurer a truly free and open internet for our people. A this is a handout and a holiday gift to companies to increase profits that the expense of the consumer. Before i begin remarks senator franken is on the floor as well me and never like the public to know how important his leadership has been on these issues. We have partnered ever since he came to the senate and he was on the Judiciary Committee and on a key spot on this issue i want to continue this discussion under the of wonderful presentations but i want the public to know the senator franken has made the big difference for the consumer on these issues and those who have been toiling are appreciative. Mr. President i want people to understand what that neutrality is. We have talked about this there is some confusion that neutrality means after you pay youret internet you to go where and when and how you want it is the essence that everybody gets of fair shake. It is the foundation of what has kept to the internet free and open and before i get into my prepared remarks i want people to wonder stand what happens if you dont have the neutrality . In effect Big Companies can manipulate who was going to win or lose in the of marketplace they will continue to manipulate who wins and loses until we get ifewer services and consumer gets higher prices. This isnt some kind of abstract discussion so let me flesh out some of these remarks. My colleagues are t waiting. The defining feature has been a big company or momandpop i. C. E. Cream shop with the web site content goes to everybody at the same speed. Teeeight keeps the Internet Service providers from favoring one type of content over another. Now the market has changed since 2006 because for access to the internet has changed. Once there weref lesions of dialup providers and resellers we saw a few monopolies dominating neighborhneighborh oods across the country. With the power to dictate where you could go and what you could see they had and continue to have the services and the sites that you would have chosen to drive them out of business. So what this means for people that are following this, so when stead of netflix or o amazon you could be forced to get video content from something called gold 90 whatever the heck that is. Certainly isnt a service that has been able to compete in a Free Internet market but that changes when verizon can charge more to get to facebook for youtube. Without strong at neutrality protection at t might provide importations free data for customer streaming hbo. That is good if you watch hbo but it could without Net Neutrality with those to survive as senator franken has pointed f out that it. Freed a dad goes away and the American Consumer was somebody sitting in Minnesota Free data goes away as what i describe in theirhe step with fewer choices and higher prices vatican is what the lot of Net Neutrality means i care deeply about innovation and start up and Small Businesses senator warren was eloquent on this point. But what does it mean to me . That i walked people through example is that typical person will be stuck with fewer choices and higher prices. Two years ago head of the fcc wheeler put in a strong framework called title ii the Communications Act to government has the tool to protect the neutrality. Now chairman wheeler like chairman pai work for industry for much of his career in washington rather than serve his former employers then the chairman reelers and i were you is my experience with how they treat consumers and said the al use that experience working in the private sector to design and implement an effective Consumer Protections what a contrast between the two chairs ofid the fcc both are from industry and we consider that a good thing in america that you have a prospering private economy. Chairman wheeler said the expertise to help the public but that is not what were seeing today. Mr. President theres no need toer fix what is not broken the strong neutrality protections are in place right now since those 2015 rules went into place the economy has grown up around the principle of equal access and customers for the day before thanksgiving chairman pai released his proposal that insurers neutrality prevent states from introducing their own approach to debt neutrality. Rather than listen to those millions of voices that spoke up on behalf of our real the neutrality and against this proposal allowing pay for play with the t trickledown coic chairman pai will keep pushing pay for play and ignore the will of the public to abolish neutrality rules. The first key vote is tomorrow on december 14 and what i have been doing is spending a good chunk of my waking hours this is enormously important. To tell the American People thisrd is the time to make your voice is heard. Listen to the American People is get loud. This debate is far from over. Chairman pai plays a strong hand. Questionag but then it goes to the courts a number of colleagues are looking in approaching on the floor. I want as much as anything to make sure the American People know that well understand political change does not start in government buildings in washington d. C. Trickling down to the bottom to us for good there is ever an issue for bottoms up is thato neutrality not only of the majority of americans oppose but many of the comments they solicited for input are fake to false identities of our links to the russian ip address so any argument from the fcc to have a transparent process with comments from the American People is not true. This is not government for the people it is government for the special interest. A couple of other points. Chairman pai has been arguing falsely that without title ii projections big cable will make more money it use those profits to invest in infrastructure. This is the trickledown theory about telecommunications. First of all, the existing regime was called title ii. They did not roadblock broadband they continued to invest even when strong that neutrality projections were put in place in 2015. Publicly available documents show investment by i is peas 5 higher during the two years after strong Net Neutrality rules were adopted them the two yearspr prior. Increasing 25 percent since 2013. Big cable shows that none of the major isis peace told their investors that the neutrality makes an impact. That is based on publicly verifiable documents. So what we have is chairman pai that civilization will end, chairman pai is making the argument that the Net Neutrality provisions would be the end of investment for the western civilization as we know it. Public documents show otherwise. Publicly available documents. The fcc chairman once said that policy of neutrality is another way to go. It is just nonsense allowing a Net Neutrality provider has about as much chance that the big Cable Companies will honor volunteered the voluntarily that neutrality to get my 10 year old twins to number of desert they have that dinner. Not going to happen. Not going to work zero ben and access it would work with my twins either. So to roll back title to title ii that it does not prioritize internet traffic or create a the paid for gasoline so much horror voluntary policy. Deal the way to be fully tapped is by ensuring that one form of contact isnt over another form by the isp. Ni the trump the sec is blowing a head to drop the of will the Playing Field of innovation and free speech i closeo only to say that this is also a lifeline for the start up. They dream to be the next google or e day or youtube this isnt about them this is about the startups. And i would like to hear my colleague made his remarks other than we are about to start the tax conference but senator franken has ben our go to person on these issues since he came to the senate and were so grateful he looked at this issue through the of prism of what it means to a person without clout. Mr. President. Thanks to the senator from oregon for those kind words for go you have ben of leader to introduce that neutrality since 2006 before i came here. Mr. President bo i rise today to. C talk about tomorrows vote at the fcc on a proposal that would throw out the strong and neutrality rules that americans have fought so hard for. Rules that insure that all content on the internet receives equal treatment from broadband providers regardless of who owns it it, or how deep their pockets are. Plain and simple, these rules are about ensuring the internet remains a platform for innovation and economic growthsi and freedom of expression that it has always been. As our reflect on my time in the senate, of course, there are moments that stand out as protector of the significant in one such moment came february 2015. With American Consumers and businesses celebrated the fcc landmark vote to preserve the free and open internet to reclassified as common carriers under title ii under the Communications Act. Paul i have long urged them to do change those rules but under title to it wasnt just the outcome of this vote that made so as i look back, the fcc 2015 vote and then received nearly 4 million Public Comments that is by a factor of three of the vast majority erred the rules to protect but that has been an architecture since the very beginning. Americans from across the political spectrum to organize that their voices were heard and they were. This was democracy in action. In know as chairman pai goes to a into the open Internet Order we havee seen more demonstration of a grassroots advocacy. Millions of americans from every corner of the nation and background imaginable are doing the of Movement Today to wreathing the dangerous proposal to preserve not neutrality. When t things get tough as day halftime and time again, so lets get the republicans failed attempt civic bet that civic participation to inspired so many of us in recent months to affect real change depends on the open internet. If the chairman ultimately has his way were entering a world where every voice might not matter or a handful t of multibilliondollar companies have the power to bury sites offering alternative viewpoints or controlton how users get their information. A world where the deepest pockets can pay for the fast lane and that competitors fall into the slow lane. It is because of neutrality that people from across the nation can connect with each other and share ideas on the internet and organized a communityal effort just like the of protest we have seen after a rise in Stores Across the country. I have spent the entirety of my time in the senate pushing for strong Net Neutrality rules. In i have a voice called it the free speech issue of our time because it embraces our most basic constitutional freedoms because of restricted public debate is vital to the functioning of democracy. So now perhaps more than ever the need to preserve a free and open internet is abundantly clear. So we cannot give up now. Three years ago the fcc established a strong Net Neutrality rules for millions of americans who voiced their support for crow the sec must maintain and fully enforce the Important Court tested rules that are already in place. And more importantly they must respect the democratic process and the voices that made them so clear in 2014 and over the course of the last few months. There is just too much at stake. Thank you mr. President. Mr. President . I thinkg my colleague from minnesota to be a champion on this issue in many others revery have government or for is for the people hed rather s to have issue after issue in the real thing kim for his advocacy for crest unanimous consent that my in turn have the of florida over just threw up the balance without objections to read therere was an election last night i heard many colleagues on the republican side say elections have consequences but now we see theyre trying to deliberately slow down the opportunity for the new the elected senator from alabama to come here to serve in the u. S. Senate. That took quite a different view of the question whenever republican and an to convert debt and then to bypass the lakes of the opinion but the people of alabama siddur they still blast might but this Chamber Wants to deny them that police bomb negative that of the floor of the senate. Now a few years ago in 2013 there was a household election in misery in the republican was elected in jason can tour the democratic secretary of state said absolutely he should be seated in the eighth district but he was seated in the house of representatives but within 18 w hours and those that would have fair representation. Called on the majority leader to defend the people of alabama so i am here to talk about another issue of but the president standing up for the powerful and then to give benefits to the americans. The president decided in the oval office is when that would enable but then the comments but then there republican colleagues voted overwhelmingly to crush the opportunity me over the the citizen represents the company in a computer and consumer dispute but the tax bill says if you earn less than 30,000 you get a tax increase if the middle class 87 million gets an increase of taxes and by the way several trillion dollars to the richest americans and the most powerful corporations . Another example. Our treasury to deliver benefits to the richest in america. Oregon is 1 of the national population. If you take 1 of 1 trillion of his 10 billion. I can tell you what we cans do they have a stronger economy putting people to work. The can add teachers to the Public School classrooms so they are better opportunity for children to learn and drive. We can make college more affordable and improve Community HealthMajor Health Care is available to all that is so critical but mccauley say give this to the richest americans and that is because we have of fundamental site but to mimic wed just had the vision but now we have the issue of neutrality and once again President Trump and republicans have weighed in to crush ordinary people. The internet has become the central to all of us in our daily life to where to go to a restaurant or what movie is playing. To stand up and check to find out this borazon sports and news and order Airline Tickets and do so many things but yet here President Trump says we want to take that level Playing Field of fairness for consumers across america and let some powerful companies decide who gets to provide information in which web sites can have the information in w which will slow down. Who goes to the fast lane for the slow lane . The internet is so critical to freedom of informationau act the diffuse many of knowledge is only guaranteed of true l liberty the my giveagues want to companies the ability to controliv what information is shared in america. Think of a highway everyone gets to use lit the in the slowly mckewon touche use say fuel for get and the fast d lane you dont have someone to say were only going to allow the richest americans to drive in the fast lane and the most powerful corporations and the rest of you go to a slowing progression of care there is a truck going 25 Miles Per Hour you are stuck unless you pay me money to get out of atlanta that main. If they dont get the message we have to overturn their rule here on the floor of the senate. Every negative get a chart here is the bar to say how we people called and what side of the issue. 544 people called in favor of neutrality and zero people called of powerful corporations controlling the internet. We did get one call so lets make it against one. Have you ever had that many people calling in to say dont let the powerful takeover our internet . The level Playing Field to distribute knowledge or for entrepreneurs sope the new start of can compete to replenish websites i ask if you have a choice to follow the election inwo alabama one could replenish numbers is a everyone was told to go so slow the numbers will take five minutes which we do have gone to . Of course you go to the site to update quickly and that is the point. We should allow powerful companies to restore americans over the information created on the internet is unfair to citizens or n entreprenuers for distribution of knowledge and remus defeated. We must defeat it. Thank you mr. President. This is the place grand pen his memoirs in 85 he was dying of throat cancer and his family was facing serious financial problems at this point in his life he was trying to take care of his family and we get to tell a story here that most people dont know about. Growing up by thought the person who was addicted to heroin lived under of bridge somewhere pushing a shopping cart. But thats not the case. One of the most overused drugs on wall street and these are really professionals, are opioids. Vineyard times magazine said the battle of saratoga was the most important battle ever fought in the entire world in the last 1,000 years because they resulted in the surrender. The First Time Ever in World History a british army surrendered. [inaudible conversations] good morning. I call this hearing to order looking up the Regulatory Commission highlight to welcome the chairman of the commissioner live said tuesday the Commission Remains without the full strength of five commissioners a