CAGW Names Sen. Al Franken March 2017 Porker of the Month | Citizens Against Government Waste

CAGW Names Sen. Al Franken March 2017 Porker of the Month

Press Release

For Immediate ReleaseContact: Curtis Kalin 202-467-5318
March 23, 2017 

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) its March 2017 Porker of the Month for his absurd defense of the bureaucratic takeover of the internet.

There has been a substantial amount of misinformation about so-called net neutrality over the past decade.  For starters, it’s not neutral.  The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reclassified Internet Service Providers (ISPs) under antiquated provisions of Title II of the 1934 Communications Act, which allowed the agency to regulate ISPs as if they were rotary phone companies.  Further confusing the public, the FCC name for the mandate when it was pushed through on February 26, 2015, was the Open Internet Order (OIO).  Placing ancient government standards onto a modern communications platform stymies innovation and free speech.     

Sen. Franken has been a leading proponent of these regulations during his tenure in the Senate.  Soon after new FCC Chairman Ajit Pai signaled his intention to repeal these bygone regulations, Sen. Franken seemed to revert to his prior career as a comedian.  He laughingly mused that a repeal of net neutrality constituted a threat to “the basic principles of our democracy,” and that it was “the free speech issue of our time.”  Sen. Franken’s flawed assertion that ISPs would attempt to unfairly stifle internet speeds is both unfounded and nonexistent.  Indeed, the lack of bureaucratic interference allowed the internet to thrive and consumers to prosper. 

CAGW President Tom Schatz said, “Sen. Franken’s preposterous defense of draconian regulation of the internet is perhaps the greatest joke he’s ever told.  Net neutrality has always been a solution in search of a problem.  It was intended to expand the FCC’s ability to dictate anything and everything that happens online.  Consumers are best served by an internet that is free from the domineering hand of bureaucrats, which is something Sen. Franken would do well to realize.”

For invoking ridiculous hyperbole to defend the bureaucratic takeover of the internet, CAGW names Sen. Al Franken its March 2017 Porker of the Month.

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.  Porker of the Month is a dubious honor given to lawmakers, government officials, and political candidates who have shown a blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers.

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