Official_FCC_CJR

Today, the United States internet economy is the envy of the world. I believe that's because it rests on a foundation of openness. Net neutrality is a big part of that--and I worry that the economic engine that it has supported will be harmed by this decision.

As for fighting this repeal, the most important thing to do is realize the fight is not over. There will be litigation in the courts. There will be legislative efforts in Congress. There are even legislative efforts in state houses, like Nebraska, Washington, New York, and California.

The fight is not over. We will see litigation in the courts. We will see action in Congress. Right now, momentum is building for legislation based on the Congressional Review Act. It would, in effect, undo the FCC's misguided net neutrality decision last month. So speak up and reach out to those who represent you. This issue matters and the effort is ongoing.

When I last checked, the FCC received roughly 24 million comments from the public on our net neutrality proceeding. In many ways, that's good. The American people are making known what they think about net neutrality and the future of the internet and they are letting Washington know in droves. But at the same time we saw a lot of funny stuff in our proceeding. There were about 2 million comments with stolen identities, half a million comments from Russian e-mails, and a lot of bogus comments from bots. That's a problem. I said so at the time and I called for a delay in our vote until we got to the bottom of this mess. I wasn't alone. Many members of Congress and state Attorneys General called for the agency to delay its vote and clear this up. Unfortunately, the agency--over my objections--went ahead with the vote anyway. But we still need to get to the bottom of what happened here, because fake comments are not unique to the FCC. We're seeing them filed in other proceedings here in Washington at other agencies, including the Department of Labor and the CFPB.

You're right. We have a real problem with broadband access in rural America. There are 34 million Americans without access to broadband at home, 23 million of them live in rural communities. We need a plan to ensure that high-speed service reaches them where they live. I think for starters we need to know today where service is and is not. But right now the national broadband map is 3 years out of date. Data that is three years old is like a lifetime in the internet age. We need to fix this. But I don't think that Washington should wait--we can begin by asking the public directly and using the wisdom of crowds. To this end, I set up an e-mail address at the FCC to take in comments about where service is lacking and what can be done to improve it. So please write in to [email protected] and let me know your stories. You can be a part of fixing this infrastructure problem.

Make a ruckus. Make your voice heard. I am listening--and I know there are others in Washington who are listening, too. There's a pile of letters from across the country that I have on my desk in my office. They are from people from all walks of life asking the FCC to keep in place its net neutrality policies. I could put them away, but I choose to keep them on the desk right now. It's a reminder that what we decide here has far-reaching consequences across the country.