Why Rep Marsha Blackburn’s Rise Is Bad News for Net Neutrality and Science

Rep Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), the arch-conservative who has received mountains of campaign cash from the telecommunication industry, has been chosen by the GOP to lead the House Communications Subcommittee, a key Congressional subcommittee with broad jurisdiction over cable, phone, and internet issues.

Rep Blackburn has waged a relentless campaign against the Federal Communications Commission’s policy safeguarding network neutrality, the principle that all internet content should be equally accessible, which she has disparaged as “socialistic.” She has also opposed efforts to promote community broadband networks, to make internet access more affordable for underserved communities, to increase competition in the video “set-top box” market, and to protect consumer privacy from broadband industry abuses. As a result, Rep Blackburn has earned a reputation among public interest advocates as the biggest enemy of internet freedom, openness, accessibility, and affordability on Capitol Hill. Among her other beliefs, Rep Blackburn has rejected the scientific consensus that humans contribute to global warming—she’s actually claimed that the Earth is cooling and questioned whether human activity is the “cause for carbon emissions”—and has stated that she does not believe in the theory of evolution.