Jay Inslee: “It is deeply disappointing that instead of being here seeking a bipartisan consensus to avoid a government shutdown, we…”

“It is deeply disappointing that instead of being here seeking a bipartisan consensus to avoid a government shutdown, we again are brought to this floor in an effort to engage in this ideological effort to, in fact, shut down government. Yesterday, my Republican friends wanted to shut down the ability of Uncle Sam to protect the freedom of Americans to breathe clean air. Today, they are attempting to shut down the ability of Uncle Sam to protect the freedom of Americans to get access to the Internet. Tomorrow, they are attempting to shut down the government so they won't be allowed to protect the freedom of women to get health. We should not be shutting down Americans' access to an open Internet. We should be opening up Americans' access and Uncle Sam's ability to guarantee Americans access to the Internet. Now here's what is at stake. Our access to freeways--and freeways are great, just like the Internet is great, but it is not so great if powerful economic forces can shut down the on-ramps to the freeway. And it's not so great if they can shut down or create a two-tiered system so that if you go to your Internet service provider's favorite warehouse store you get a deal to get access to the freeway; but if you want to go to their competitors, you have got to pay extra and you get slower service to get there. This is what is at stake.…”