mr. latta: -- mr. latta: thank you, mr. speaker. we have no other speakers on our side and i'm ready to close. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. mr. tonko: mr. speaker, we have no further members choosing to speak. so if the gentleman is ready to close, we will do so. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio is recognized. mr. latta: thank you very much, mr. speaker. i again, for all the matter distribute reasons that we've stated here today -- the reasons that we've stated here today on the pirate act, i believe this bill is going to get passed today and i ask the house to pass h.r. 583 and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from new york. mr. tonko: thank you, mr. speaker. to close, i believe that this measure, 583, moves us forward in a way that better protects public health and safety, it has the endorsement of many in the field, and including 50 state broadcast associations. so i encourage our colleagues to sup

and mr. wheeler, i should have referred to both of you as chairman, not commissioner. my apologies. with the conclusion of witness testimony, we're now going to move to member questions. each member will have five minutes to ask questions of our witnesses. i will start by recognizing myself for five minutes. chairman wheeler, when the fcc enacted the open internet order, it included the bright line rules we all talked about. no blocking, no throttling, paid prioritization. but it also included a general conduct standard, consumer protections, and commission oversight of interconnection and zero rating policies. can you briefly, and i would underline briefly, give us some examples of past problems that necessitated the addition of these provisions in the order. >> well, you've heard many of them being discussed in the previous testimony. there's a historical reality when comcast tried to block p2p. there's the experience of comcast trying to block -- not try, but indeed blocking ports into the

matsui, mr. latta, members of the subcommittee. thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. it's an honor to be here and talk about net few tralt and the consequences of applying title 2 to the internet. the application of title 2 is part of net neutrality had a dramatic chilling effect on rural telecom in the pacific northwest. mr. franell: and i suspect the same can be said about the rest of the country. on nonregulated tell could hes and internet service providers like eastern oregon made them hesitant to invest in the sector. the public fervor and fear surrounding the public precluded any suggestion of the topic. this resulted in distrust of and anger towards i.s.p.'s like my company that had never manipulated their networks or internet protocol traffic in any competitive nature. it prompted state legislation forcing net neutrality practices on local providers who never violated the public trust and had no interest in anti-competitive behavior. all this took place without the ability to have an objective discussio

i thank you, mr. chairman. i yeed back. >> the chairman now recognizes mr. latta. >> i'm glad to see we are starting off with this subject. despite the long track record on net neutrality, i believe there's room for consensus here. there is also great need for consensus. in my district, as in many others across the nation, our constituents want us to focus on getting broadband out to close the digital divide. the uncertainty is not helpful. i'm hopeful we can come together on a permanent legislative solution. i would like to welcome our witnesses, especially former fcc chairman michael powell. as chairman, he had the distinction of creating a bipartisan consensus on the subject in 2004. the internet freedoms he outlined, use applications and devices of their choice and receive meaningful information about their service plans still serve as benchmarks for what we are trying to accomplish. i think it would be instructive to consider some starting points for our conversation. yesterday, i introduced a bill that closely tracks chairman waxman's proposed legislat

with that i yield to the ranking member mr. latta for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. if i could just take a point of personal privilege also to express my deepest sympathies to our friend and colleague deb by dingell on the loss of chairman dingell. and the chairman loved this committee. this room is named after him. i had the privilege of getting to know him in my days not only being on in committee but when i first got to congress. again, he loved this committee. he loved this house. but most of all he loved his district, the state of michigan and all he did for it. with that, i wish the dingells my deepest sympathies on the loss of the chairman. and again mr. chairman thank you very much for convening our panel of witnesses today and to our witnesses thanks very much for being here. we appreciate your time. i look forward to hearing your expertise and different perspectives as we discuss the future of the telecommunications marketplace and learn more about the proposed merger of t-mobile and sprint. with any talk of merger comes a long list of potential benefits an

ranking member, mr. latta, for five minutes. latta: i would also like to express sympathies to our colleague debbie dingell, on the loss of chairman dingell. the chairman loved this committee, this room is named after him, and i had the onvilege to get to know him this committee when i first got to congress. he loved this house and most of all he loved his district in the state of michigan. i wish the dangles my deepest sympathies on the loss of the chairman -- i wish the dingells my deepest sympathies on the loss of the chairman. to our witnesses, thanks for being here. we appreciate your time. i look forward to hearing your different perspectives as we discussed the future of the telecommunications marketplace and learn more about the proposed merger of t-mobile and sprint. with any talk of merger comes a list of benefits and drawbacks and this is no different. i understand from the ceos who are with us today that there are many pro-consumer outcomes possible if the merger is approved. these potential benefits range from provi