WASHINGTON – Today, Senator Mike Lee released the following statement in response the President’s announcement on net neutrality:

“The President’s suggestion that the FCC reclassify the Internet as a public utility, and subject it to the most pervasive and suffocating kind of government regulation, is dangerous. The Internet has flourished precisely because it has been open and free of just this kind of government control. The President’s policy would threaten to break the Internet—and stifle innovation in the most vibrant sector of our economy."

“To keep creating jobs and opportunities for the American people, the Internet needs to be free, and protected – by Congress if necessary - from another dysfunctional government takeover."

“Critics of the status quo are right to push for reform and it’s been almost twenty years since Congress updated The Communications Act. But net neutrality is a regulatory framework designed for railroads and telegraphs. We can’t condemn a regulatory framework from the 20th century to replace it with one from the 19th! What we need is to ensure we are protecting consumers and competition across this sector, putting neither producers nor providers, but consumers at the center of the Internet economy."

Senator Lee is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.