Ed Markey: “I thank the gentlelady for her great leadership. I have served 36 years on the Telecommunications Subcommittee. No…”

“I thank the gentlelady for her great leadership. I have served 36 years on the Telecommunications Subcommittee. No Member of Congress has ever done this. I know that this is an important moment. This is an important resolution because the Internet today is indispensable to our economy, intricately linked to innovation worldwide, and initiates the free flow of ideas around the planet. It is the most successful communications and commercial medium in the history of the world. In testimony before the Telecommunications Subcommittee in May, Vint Cerf, known to many as the ``Father of the Internet,'' explained: To allow any rules that would sequester this innovation and inhibit others would damage the future of the Internet dramatically. I could not agree more. That is why I strongly support this bipartisan resolution with Ms. Eshoo, Mr. Waxman, Mr. Walden, and Ms. Bono Mack. This is why we have to be out here together. It is why we must send a bipartisan signal to the rest of the world that the United States will defend an open Internet. The World Wide Web is essential to our economy. Companies large and small rely on the Web regardless of whether their commercial aspirations are local or global. The Internet's worldwide scope has also helped to foster community and cultural communications across the planet. We have recently witnessed the power of social media in toppling dictators and in promoting democracy across the globe.…”