House Commerce Committee Republicans to FCC Chair Rosenworcel: “The Net Neutrality Debate was Settled When the Internet Didn’t Break”

We write to express our disappointment and opposition to your announcement that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will vote to reclassify fixed and mobile broadband as a telecommunications service under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934. Not only is this bad public policy, but it is also unlawful. Reclassification and the associated heavy-handed regulations that accompany this action continues to be a solution in search of a problem. We seek the following information by October 31, 2023:

1. When did the FCC begin drafting the Safeguarding and Securing the Open Internet Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM)? Please also provide each draft considered by your office and the Chief of the Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB).
   • a. Please provide the date and time that you shared the Safeguarding and Securing the Open Internet NPRM with each commissioner.
2. Which FCC employees, officials, or contractors participated in drafting the NPRM? Please provide their names and job titles.
3. Provide any FCC work product (emails, memos, documents, other written communications), including from the Office of General Counsel (OGC), raising potential legal or litigation concerns stemming from the NPRM.
4. Has the FCC conducted an economic analysis of this proposal? If so, please provide that analysis.
5. 5. Did anyone at the FCC discuss reclassification of broadband with the Executive Office of the President (EOP) before your September 26, 2023, announcement? If so, who from the FCC and EOP, and when? Please provide their names and job titles.
6. Which interest groups and stakeholders have met with your office or the WCB to discuss reclassification of broadband prior to your September 26, 2023, announcement?
   • a. Did any of these groups receive any funds from the Affordable Connectivity Outreach Grant Program? If so, please provide the name of the group and the amount of funding provided through the grant program.
7. Has the FCC received any formal complaints about broadband providers engaging in the blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization that you seek to prohibit? If so, please provide those complaints.
8. Do you commit to not regulate rates for broadband service either ex ante or ex post?
9. Do you agree with statements made by third parties that, “If we don’t save net neutrality, you’ll get the internet one word at a time” and that enacting the Restoring Internet Freedom Order would cause the “end of the internet as we know it”?
   • a. Have these predictions come true?
   • b. Did anything change with the Internet’s performance following the adoption of the Restoring Internet Freedom Order?
10. Do you agree that our nation’s broadband networks withstood the challenge of increased usage during the Covid-19 pandemic without reclassifying broadband under Title II?
11. You concluded your dissent in the 2017 Restoring Internet Freedom Order by stating “So let’s persist. Let’s fight. Let’s not stop here or now. It’s too important. The future depends on it.” That same day, FCC headquarters received a bomb threat and, days later, then-FCC Chairman Pai received a death threat. Do you believe your rhetoric and the rhetoric of your allies contributed to these acts?
    • a. Will you commit to using tamer and less hyperbolic language when discussing this proceeding?
    • b. Will you commit to disavowing any similar language used by supporters of your proposed actions?