Hudson Votes to Prohibit FCC Internet Regulation

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Richard Hudson (NC-08) released the following statement after voting to prevent the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from regulating the retail rates charged by Internet service providers (ISPs) for broadband Internet service access:

Despite past promises not to regulate broadband rates for ISPs, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler admitted in a March 2016 Energy and Commerce Committee Communications and Technology Subcommittee hearing that he believed the FCC should have the authority to regulate broadband rates. In response, today, the House passed the No Rate Regulation of Broadband Internet Access Act (H.R. 2666), to prevent the FCC from regulating rates charged for broadband Internet, just as the administration promised when they reclassified access to the Internet as a utility under Title II of the Communications Act.

A recent study commissioned by the United States Telecom Association, as reported by Morning Consult, reveals, “An expansion of FCC rules regulating the broadband market could lead to the elimination of as many as 43,560 jobs over a five-year period, while economic output would decline by $3.4 billion during the same time period in the U.S.”