WASHINGTON, D.C.  – U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) and 28 other members of Congress today filed an amicus brief with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in support of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Open Internet rules. The brief supports the FCC’s decision that broadband Internet access is a telecommunications service and lies at the heart of the Commission’s Title II authority to put in place strong Open Internet rules. 

“The FCC has done precisely what Congress intended the Commission to do – classify broadband Internet access service according to its best understanding of the technology of the day, and how consumers use that technology,” wrote the members of Congress in their brief.  “In light of the FCC’s findings – findings which are amply supported by evidence – this Court should uphold the FCC’s reasonable reclassification order.”

The members of Congress state in the amicus brief, which was led by Senator Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Representative Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), that the plain language of the Act supports the FCC’s actions. Congress crafted the definition of “telecommunications service” in the 1996 Act to make the term applicable to rapidly changing telecommunications technologies and markets on a technologically-neutral and forward-looking basis. Congress intended to preserve the FCC’s authority to forestall threats to competition and innovation in telecommunications services, even as the technologies used to offer those services evolve over time.

Senator King is a fierce proponent of protecting an open Internet, and has applauded the FCC’s action to preserve net neutrality and promote regulatory certainty. He wrote a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler in advance of the Commission’s net neutrality decision urging that broadband be reclassified as a telecommunications service under Title II of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

The following Senators also signed the amicus brief: Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Cory A. Booker (D-N.J.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.).

The following Representatives also signed the amicus brief: Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.), Mike Doyle (D-Pa.), Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), Sam Farr (D-Calif.), Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Michael M. Honda (D-Calif.), Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), John Lewis (D-Ga.), Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), Jared Polis (D-Colo.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), José E. Serrano (D-N.Y.), Mark Takano (D-Calif.), Nydia M. Velázquez (D-N.Y.)

A copy of the amicus brief can be found HERE.

###