Ed Markey: “to you and all of my colleagues on the floor this afternoon, we are about to have a huge debate in this country. We are…”

“to you and all of my colleagues on the floor this afternoon, we are about to have a huge debate in this country. We are taking to the floor as a chorus of Americans across the Nation are going to go to the phones and their devices to support our principle of net neutrality in this country. We are speaking out because the American people know the internet is the most powerful platform for commerce and communications in the history of the planet. They know the internet is for everyone and was invented with the guiding principle of nondiscrimination. The internet is designed to democratize access to information, to opportunity. They know the health of our economy, our civic life, our educational system, and so many other parts of today's American experience all depend on the internet being free and open to everyone, not just those who can afford Big Telecom's price of admission. They know strong, clear, and enforceable net neutrality rules are the only way to protect the internet as we know it. That is why an overwhelming 86 percent of Americans oppose the Federal Communications Commission's decision last December to repeal net neutrality rules. Outside of Washington, this isn't a partisan issue at all. In fact, 82 percent of Republicans oppose the net neutrality repeal. In a time when we hear so much about what divides us and how we differ, net neutrality is something nearly all Americans agree on. It should be a bipartisan bright spot.…”