FCC Commissioner: Proposed Internet Regulation ‘Mimics Obamacare’

Republican FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai said that proposed Internet regulation “mimics Obamacare” both in process and substance, was “adopting a solution that won’t work to a problem that doesn’t exist using legal authority we don’t have,” and would lead to “billions of dollars in new taxes” on Wednesday’s “Mark Levin Show.”

“I’ve got to tell you that I’ve heard from a lot of people who are amazed at how the entire process that this issue has progressed on, and the substance of it mimics Obamacare that Washington bureaucracy would keep this plan in the dark, wouldn’t release it until after it was voted on, and you have the FCC, or any federal agency essentially micromanaging the private sector” he stated.

Pai declared that, “in [an] unprecedented fashion, right after the November elections the president announced, not just what he wanted the FCC to do, but the very legal foundation by which he wanted the FCC to it.”

Pai also railed against the lack of transparency, arguing “a monumental shift in favor of government control of the Internet and the American public is not going to be able to see it until after the FCC votes on it.”

He continued that, “nowhere does the agency identify any kind of systemic harm in the Internet economy, but nonetheless it invents one in order to regulate it, and so it’s this classic situation where we’re adopting a solution that won’t work to a problem that doesn’t exist using legal authority we don’t have.”

He added that the regulations were “rate regulation of the kind we used to do for railroad monopolies in the 19th century and telephone monopolies in the early 20th century,” the “end result” of which would be “government control of virtually every aspect of the Internet.”  He also stated they would lead to “billions of dollars in new taxes” by re-classifying broadband services, which according to an estimate he read, would cost $11 billion in new taxes on Internet access, and the “FCC micromanaging what services plans you’re allowed to choose from.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett