FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 23, 2019
Contact: Mark Stanley, press@demandprogress.org, 202.681.7582
The following can be attributed to Demand Progress Communications Director Mark Stanley, in response to a letter led by Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Scott Peters (D-CA) and signed by 47 Democrats calling for a so-called 'bipartisan net neutrality working group.'
"This is an extremely misguided effort from these Democrats, especially considering a strong, bipartisan net neutrality bill in the form of the Save the Internet Act just passed the House last month. A measure similar to the Save the Internet Act passed the Senate with bipartisan support last year, and the bill enjoys the backing of millions of Americans from across the political spectrum who rely on an open internet. The Save the Internet Act is the most viable legislative vehicle to restore critical net neutrality protections this Congress.
"This ill-timed, ill-conceived push for a so-called ‘bipartisan working group’ can only serve to undermine the crucial legislation that lawmakers, small businesses and the grassroots just fought so tirelessly to pass in the House. The fact that the letter holds up the Wicker-Sinema group in the Senate as a model to emulate shows just how disingenuous this effort is — both Senators Wicker and Sinema have steadfastly opposed the commonsense protections in the bipartisan Save the Internet Act. In fact, Sen. Sinema is the lone Democrat in Congress not to back the bill.
"Going forward, we call on Democratic leadership to strongly reject this call to establish such a working group, and we urge all lawmakers who wish to be seen as standing for a truly open internet to distance themselves from this effort."
Yesterday, a letter signed by 32 public interest organizations was sent to House Democratic leadership opposing the Gottheimer-Peters effort. You can read the full letter here:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/demandprogress/images/Public_interest_letter_opposing_House_working_group_3.pdf
###