E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 111 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION Vol. 156 WASHINGTON, TUESDAY, MAY 11, 2010 No. 70 House of Representatives The House met at 12:30 p.m. and was NET REGULATION WILL HARM turned it over to the private sector and called to order by the Speaker. INVESTMENT AND INNOVATION lifted restrictions on its use by com- The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. mercial entities and the public. The f MARKEY of Colorado). The Chair recog- unregulated Internet is now starting to help spur a new technological revolu- MORNING-HOUR DEBATE nizes the gentleman from Florida (Mr. STEARNS) for 5 minutes. tion in this country. Where there were The SPEAKER. Pursuant to the Mr. STEARNS. Madam Speaker, a re- once separate phone, cable, wireless, order of the House of January 6, 2009, cent announcement by FCC Chairman and other industries providing distinct the Chair will now recognize Members Genachowski to impose new, burden- and separate services, we’re now seeing from lists submitted by the majority some regulation on the Internet and on a confluence and a blur of providers all and minority leaders for morning-hour Internet transmission appears to me to competing against each other for con- debate. be a political maneuver to regulate the sumers, offering broadband, voice, Internet. Several weeks ago, he indi- video services, and much more. f cated he was not going to push for net The Apple iPod is a perfect example of the confluence of the Internet, the FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY regulation. Now he is. There is no eco- nomic or legal justification for this TV, and the computer, which will then The SPEAKER. The Chair recognizes move and the result will be a freeze in be followed by other exciting products. the gentlewoman from Arizona (Mrs. the investment and innovation we have Lines of technology are being blurred KIRKPATRICK) for 5 minutes. seen over the past 20 years. The Inter- all the time. In fact, a few years ago, Mrs. KIRKPATRICK of Arizona. net is the most powerful platform for you had to have separate platforms for Madam Speaker, over the past months, innovation ever created and, by his ac- each additional individual TV tech- we have witnessed firsthand the poten- tions, Chairman Genachowski is endan- nology. Now, your computer becomes tial consequences of allowing the na- gering the Internet’s deployment and your TV, your TV doubles for your tional debt to continue growing out of ultimately its innovation. computer, and your wireless device be- control. Greece borrowed heavily dur- Our current free-market, pro-invest- comes your TV, your computer, your ing the last decade during the boom ment policies have served us well. In phone, and camera. We will see more of and the bubble and found itself at risk fact, according to the FCC’s own Na- this convergence in the years to come of default when global credit dried up. tional Broadband Plan, 95 percent of all if we remain on the current deregula- Now the country is facing financial dis- Americans have access to broadband tory path. However, the FCC appears to aster. and approximately 200 million sub- want to change course. In response to The crisis should serve as a warning scribers have broadband at home the FCC’s announcement, I introduced to Washington. This country’s debt is today, up from 8 million just 10 years a bill today, H.R. 5257—the Internet In- now $12.9 trillion and is approaching ago. By comparison, it took 90 years to vestment, Innovation, and Competition unsustainable levels. We must address go from 8 million voice subscribers to Preservation Act—that would prevent the fiscal imbalance here before it’s 200 million under the old Title II Com- the FCC from regulating the Internet too late. Washington must start by mon Carrier Regulations. Ironically, or Internet transmission, absent a mar- making major changes to the budget— the chairman’s laudable goal of maxi- ket failure. changes that go beyond freezing spend- mizing broadband deployment and ing and instead look to make signifi- adoption will be most harmed by his b 1245 cant budget cuts. That means we have announcement. My bill would require the FCC to to crack down on the consequence-free Will Rogers once said that, ‘‘Things conduct a rigorous market analysis be- spending culture in Congress. Wash- in our country run in spite of the gov- fore mandating new network regula- ington needs to put a priority on elimi- ernment, not by the aid of it.’’ He was tions. The FCC would need to prove nating waste and finding cost-effective not, of course, talking about the Inter- that regulations are, indeed, necessary. ways to achieve this country’s goals. net, but his words still ring true today. Chairman Genachowski has said on nu- Budget cuts are not always easy or The rise of the Internet itself is a truly merous occasions that he wants to popular, but business as usual in Wash- great deregulatory story. What started make sure that the FCC is the most ington is not working. Greece’s rapid as a government-run network for shar- data-driven agency. Well, let’s see the spiral shows that it is past time that ing research has now exploded into a data. Let’s see the data showing there’s we start to take serious steps—both big force for mass communication, enter- a need for regulation before you do it, and small—to address our fiscal health. tainment, and commerce, when we Mr. Chairman. b This symbol represents the time of day during the House proceedings, e.g., b 1407 is 2:07 p.m. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. H3279 . VerDate Mar 15 2010 02:08 May 12, 2010 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 4634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A11MY7.000 H11MYPT1 jbell on DSKDVH8Z91PROD with HOUSE H3280 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE May 11, 2010 With our economy still struggling, and emergency reserves. In fact, Amer- lack of responsible oversight to expose now is the worst time to impose new ican households cumulatively lost $17.5 American families, American business, regulations on the Internet and on trillion in aggregate household wealth and our whole economy to such poten- Internet service providers; yet, this is in the recession. tial risk. Madam Speaker, we must exactly what the FCC is going to try to Now it’s true, Madam Speaker, that have Wall Street reform now. do. Communication companies are we’re seeing signs of an economic re- f among the few companies still invest- covery. The Nation’s gross domestic RECESS ing billions of dollars into our economy product is once again growing at the in these very difficult financial times. rate of 5.6 percent in the last quarter of The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu- Net regulation will discourage invest- 2009 and another 3.2 percent in the first ant to clause 12(a) of rule I, the Chair ment and innovation precisely when we quarter of this year. After 2 years of declares the House in recess until 2 need it the most, especially in light of job losses, culminating with 741,000 p.m. today. our push to increase broadband deploy- jobs lost in January of 2009, we’re fi- Accordingly (at 12 o’clock and 50 ment in this country. nally in the midst of our fourth minutes p.m.), the House stood in re- The FCC’s announcement is a perfect straight month of job growth, even cess until 2 p.m. today. example of how regulations meant to though the other side of the aisle can’t f help can actually hurt our policy goals accept good news when they see it. b 1400 while taking more money out of the More than 290,000 jobs were created last American taxpayers’ pockets. I am re- month, the most since March of 2006. AFTER RECESS minded again, Madam Speaker, of an- Despite the recent uncertainty, the The recess having expired, the House other Will Rogers quote when he said, stock markets are up more than 50 per- was called to order by the Speaker pro ‘‘Be thankful we’re not getting all the cent since their March 2009 lows. tempore (Mr. DRIEHAUS) at 2 p.m. government we’re paying for.’’ Our his- But it is that lingering uncertainty f tory of communication policy is rife that we have sought to address with with examples of the best regulatory our actions in this Congress. Similar fi- PRAYER intentions going awry. More often than nancial sector problems came to a head The Chaplain, the Reverend Daniel P. not, advances come despite regulation in 2007, leading to the worst economic Coughlin, offered the following prayer: or, as with our Internet policy over the recession since the Great Depression. Lord, make Your presence known in past couple of decades, from our deci- And as last Thursday reminded us, our midst that we may calm the fears sion not to regulate. we’re still at risk to financial sector of Your people and bring justice to the f uncertainty. Responsible Wall Street land. Fill the Members of Congress reform remains one of the critical com- with understanding that they may rel- AVOIDING A SECOND ECONOMIC ponents of a sustainable economic re- ish our national diversity and gain wis- COLLAPSE: THE NEED FOR FI- covery.