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Pallone & Doyle Ask E&C GOP to Invite Additional Witnesses To September Net Neutrality Hearing

July 25, 2017

Views of Entrepreneurs, Small Businesses, Consumers & Others Not Reflected in Proposed Witness Panel

Washington, D.C. – Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Ranking Member Mike Doyle (D-PA) wrote to committee leaders to express the need to expand the list of witnesses for the full committee hearing on the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) net neutrality proceeding. In their letter to Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Pallone and Doyle wrote that they did not believe that the committee could have a serious discussion of this important issue without including the real people affected by the FCC's proposals.

"In your announcement of the hearing, you said the Chief Executive Officers from eight of the largest corporations in the world with a combined market capitalization of nearly $2.5 trillion had been invited to testify," wrote Pallone and Doyle. "Although you stated the hearing was an inquiry into the ‘internet ecosystem,' you once again failed to recognize how important the internet is for consumers, small businesses, entrepreneurs, political organizers, public interest groups, and people looking for work."

"We therefore ask that you make sure that any hearing has sufficient witnesses to represent the diversity of real people who will be affected by the FCC's efforts to roll back net neutrality," Pallone and Doyle concluded.

Full text of the letter can be found here.