FCC Commissioners Ajit Pai and Mike O'Rielly Request Public Release of Internet Regulation Plan and Temporary Delay of Vote

We respectfully request that Federal Communications Commission leadership immediately release the 332-page Internet regulation plan publicly and allow the American people a reasonable period of not less than 30 days to carefully study it. Then, after the FCC reviews the specific input it receives from the American public and makes any modifications to the plan as appropriate, we could proceed to a final vote. With the future of the entire Internet at stake, it is imperative that the FCC get this right. And to do that, we must live up to the highest standards of transparency.

Transparency is particularly important here because the plan in front of us right now is so drastically different than the proposal the FCC adopted and put out for public comment last May. An independent survey found that 79 percent of Americans favored releasing the plan prior to any FCC vote. Transparency and good process shouldn’t be a partisan issue. In 2003, for example, Democratic Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein called for a delay of the vote on reforming the FCC’s media ownership rules and a public airing of the FCC’s proposal. Their words then echo now: “A public airing would make for better policies. It would make for better buy-in from the American people.” We similarly urge our colleagues to join us and allow the American people to review the proposed Internet regulations before we hold a vote. To do anything less puts at risk the Internet and all of the benefits it brings to the American people.