Bill Flores: “And I thank the gentlewoman for yielding the balance of her time to me. Mr. Speaker, as an original cosponsor of the…”

“And I thank the gentlewoman for yielding the balance of her time to me. Mr. Speaker, as an original cosponsor of the House companion to S.J. Res. 34, I rise to strongly urge my colleagues to support the resolution before us today. Like all of my colleagues in the House, I care deeply about protecting the privacy of our constituents, but I cannot support the Federal Communications Commission's counterproductive rules that will actually harm consumers and stifle innovation. For 20 years, the Federal Trade Commission--or the FTC, as we call it, frequently--oversaw consumer privacy for the entire internet ecosystem: content providers, advertisers, and internet service providers, or ISPs. The FTC's privacy program focused on preserving sensitive consumer data and took the context of a consumer's relationship with businesses into consideration. The FTC's experience in implementing a wide range of rules and regulations has resulted in over 500 cases protecting consumer information, ensuring their privacy online. In a flawed political move, absent any finding, complaints, or investigations to determine whether broadband providers have violated consumers' privacy or that the FTC had failed at doing its job, the FCC proceeded with a partisan vote to target ISPs and to expand its regulatory footprint.…”