Michael Doyle

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I remind my friends once again that this does not put us on equal footing. The FTC has no power to regulate ISPs under current law. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Capuano).

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from Massachusetts.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lofgren), my colleague from the class of '94.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time remains on both sides?

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I just remind my friend, you can say it as many times as you want, but the fact of the matter is that, under current law, the FTC has no authority to regulate the FCC, and the FCC Commissioner has said that you cannot do this without a rule in section 222. I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), our House Democratic leader, the magic minute.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky).

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time I have remaining?

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Demings).

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record letters from a coalition of small ISPs, a coalition of civil rights organizations, the Consumers Union, and an article by Terrell McSweeny all opposing this CRA. Electronic Frontier Foundation, San Francisco, CA. Re Oppose S.J. Res 34--Repeal of FCC Privacy Rules. Dear U.S. Representatives: We, the undersigned founders, executives, and employees of ISPs and networking companies, spend our working lives ensuring that Americans have high- quality, fast, reliable, and locally provided choices available when they need to connect to the Internet. One of the cornerstones of our businesses is respecting the privacy of our customers, and it is for that primary reason that we are writing to you today. We urge Congress to preserve the FCC's Broadband Privacy Rules and vote down plans to abolish them. If the rules are repealed, large ISPs across America would resume spying on their customers, selling their data, and denying them a practical and informed choice in the matter. Perhaps if there were a healthy, free, transparent, and competitive market for Internet services in this country, consumers could choose not to use those companies' products. But small ISPs like ours face many structural obstacles, and many Americans have very limited choices: a monopoly or duopoly on the wireline side, and a highly consolidated cellular market dominated by the same wireline firms. Under those circumstances, the FCC's Broadband Privacy Rules are the only way that most Americans will retain the free market choice to browse the Web without being surveilled by the company they pay for an Internet connection. Signed, Sonic, MonkeyBrains, Cruzio Internet, Etheric Networks, Aeneas Communications, Digital Service Consultants Inc., Hoyos Consulting LLC, Om Networks, Motherlode Internet, Goldrush Internet, Credo Mobile, Andrew Buker (Director of Infrastructure Services & Research computing, University of Nebraska at Omaha), Tim Pozar (co-founder, TwoP LLC), Andrew Gallo (Senior Network Architect for a regional research and education network), Jim Deleskie (co-founder, Mimir networks), Randy Carpenter (VP, First Network Group), Kraig Beahn (CTO, Enguity Technology Corp).

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to vote against this horrible resolution, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, for the last 7\1/ 2\ years, Republicans have promised Americans something better than the ACA. Instead, today, they are giving us something much worse. Twenty-four million people lose their insurance? Stripping away guaranteed benefits? Putting maternity, mental health, and pediatric care at risk? Shame on you. Pitting the elderly against children, the disabled, and the mentally ill in the Medicaid program? Placing a tax penalty on veterans? Charging a crushing age tax on 50- to 64-year-olds, forcing them to pay five times more than what others pay? Shame on you. This isn't a healthcare bill. This is a tax cut bill masquerading as a healthcare bill. This bill does nothing to lower premiums, copays, or deductibles. You cut taxes by almost $1 trillion for corporations and the rich, while ransacking Medicaid and the Medicare trust fund. That is shameful. Americans will not forget who did this to them today.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, earlier today I introduced legislation to put an end to an industry that's taken cruelty to animals to a whole new level. Animal dealers who operate under a USDA Class B license have been guilty of gross violations of the Animal Welfare Act's minimum standards for the decent treatment of animals. Class B dealers have routinely kept dogs in overcrowded cages, fed them rotten food and food contaminated with feces, ignored problems like frozen drinking water, failed to provide veterinary care for dogs with serious untreated injuries and diseases, and left live dogs caged up with the carcasses of dead dogs. And if that's not enough to turn your stomach, Class B dealers have beaten, strangled, and shot dogs. Now, all that would be bad enough, but this story gets even worse. There are two kinds of dealers who sell dogs to research facilities. Class A dealers raise the dogs they sell to researchers, and they are strictly regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Class B dealers, on the other hand, acquire the dogs they sell from so-called random sources. What this means is that Class B dealers buy animals, often with no questions asked, from an unregulated network of suppliers. Thanks to the work of animal rights groups and undercover investigators, we know that Class B dealers buy dogs that were family pets: pets that have in many cases been stolen or adopted under false pretenses. Class B dealers often acquire lost pets from local pounds or shelters and it's clear that they do it knowingly. Like millions of Americans, I've got a dog I love. He's a golden retriever named Brody. I get sick to my stomach when I think about someone treating him the way Class B dealers treat the dogs they buy and sell. The Animal Welfare Act has been in place for fifty years, but Class B dealers are still getting away with murder. The Class B trade in animals creates strong financial incentives for theft, inhumane treatment of animals, and other crime, as the record of this industry over the years has proven. It's time to shut this barbaric system down. With that end in mind, Congressman Chris Smith and I have introduced legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives that we believe would ensure that all dogs and cats used by research facilities are obtained legally. This legislation, the Pet Safety and Protection Act, would effectively prohibit the use of animals purchased from Class B dealers by scientific and biomedical research institutions. Specifically, the Pet Safety and Protection Act would require research facilities to obtain dogs and cats from only five sources: Class A dealers, law-abiding publicly owned and operated pounds or shelters, properly licensed research facilities, federal research facilities, or people who have owned the dogs or cats in question for at least a year and who are donating these animals for research. This legislation would effectively ensure that lost or stolen pets would no longer be slipped into the supply chain for research animals. Ending the trade in random source dogs won't halt or harm much-needed research. Most researchers have stopped using animals from Class B dealers, and researchers will still be able to procure purpose-bred research animals from a number of more reliable, more humane, and more reputable sources. But, it will ensure that somebody's beloved pet doesn't end up in a Class B dealer's hands. The Animal Welfare Institute and the Humane Society strongly support this legislation. In fact, the Animal Welfare Institute and the Humane Society have been actively engaged in trying to end this abuse for years, and they know more about this problem than anyone else. I'm grateful to them for their efforts to raise public awareness about this problem, and to enact legislation to end it. Class B dealers across this country violate the provisions of the Animal Welfare Act every day and cause needless suffering for thousands of dogs and cats, many of which were once beloved family pets. Class B dealers starve, beat, and kill these animals, and they deserve to be shut down. I urge my colleagues to join me in enacting the Pet Safety and Protection Act so we can put an end to this unnecessary and abhorrent practice.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 290, and I yield myself as much time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, this bill was the same bill that passed the House last Congress and is the result of lengthy negotiations in the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology to come to a bipartisan agreement that all can support. This agreement requires the FCC to make certain procedural rule changes and requires an inquiry into other process changes. The bill includes the FCC Collaboration Act, a bill that allows for more than two FCC Commissioners to discuss official business as long as certain safeguards are in place. This bill should help the Commissioners reach consensus more quickly. The bill also includes important provisions offered by Democrats last Congress, such as Representative Clarke's provision to require that the FCC provide quarterly reports on pending decisions to ensure accountability and timely responses, Representative Matsui's provision that required the FCC to coordinate with the Small Business Administration to improve small business participation in FCC proceedings, and Representative Loebsack's provision that requires the FCC Chairman to publicly post the agency's internal policies and procedures for greater transparency. The addition of these Democratic ideas make this a better bill. The bill also requires the FCC to post, in its entirety, any item adopted by the Commission within 24 hours of filing of final dissenting statements, a compromise that was reached by Congressman McNerney and Congresswoman Ellmers last Congress. FCC process reform has been an issue in our subcommittee going back several years. I hope this compromise bill is something all Members can support. Mr. Speaker, I see no other speakers on my side of the aisle, so I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 423, the Anti-Spoofing Act, introduced by Representative Meng as well as Representative Barton of Texas and Representative Lance of New Jersey. Consumers should feel safe knowing that the caller ID information they see when they answer the phone is accurate. Unfortunately, fraudsters use misleading caller ID numbers every day to trick consumers into handing over sensitive information. Americans, from young people to senior citizens, are misled by crooks using a fake caller identification into thinking they are being connected to a trusted institution. This practice known as spoofing contributes to the millions of identity theft cases in our country each year and so many other forms of fraud. Under the law today, it is already illegal for scammers to use fake caller ID information for regular voice calls. This legislation expands that band to text messages and to calls coming in from overseas. That just makes sense. It is a bipartisan bill. It passed last Congress on a vote of 382-5. I urge my colleagues to stand up for consumers and strengthen spoofing protection. It is time for us to pass the Anti-Spoofing Act. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Meng), the primary sponsor of the Anti-Spoofing Act.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I do not have any other speakers. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 588, the Securing Access to Networks in Disasters Act, or the SANDy Act, introduced by Ranking Member Frank Pallone. This bill is all about making sure that the communication networks that so many Americans rely on are as resilient as they can be. Disaster is going to strike and networks are going to go down. The purpose of this bill is to ensure that when those networks go down, the network operators have the resources they need to get things back online as quickly as possible. The bill also requires the FCC to conduct a study on the future of network resiliency, and how new and existing technologies can be used during our times of need to communicate with loved ones or call for help. This is a commonsense piece of legislation that passed 389-2 in the last Congress, and I urge all Members to support it. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone), the primary sponsor of the bill, a friend and colleague, and the ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I have no more speakers, so I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 555, the Amateur Radio Parity Act. This is a bill that passed the House last Congress by voice vote after careful negotiations in the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology. Amateur radio operators provide essential services in times of emergencies, and they shouldn't be prohibited from building their facilities. H.R. 555 will provide for new rules that will help these operators navigate homeowner association restrictions when they are attempting to build their stations. The bill strikes the right balance to ensure that homeowner associations can impose reasonable regulations for amateur radio towers, but it would also make sure that amateur radio enthusiasts can continue to operate. Again, this measure passed the House by voice vote last Congress, and I encourage Members to support it today. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Courtney), in spite of the fact that the gentleman is a New England Patriots fan who showed no mercy to my Pittsburgh Steelers last night, to show there are no hard feelings.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I also rise to support H.R. 460, Improving Rural Call Quality and Reliability Act, the bipartisan bill introduced by Representative David Young and cosponsored by a number of other Members, including Representatives Welch and Loebsack from the Energy and Commerce Committee. We deal with a lot of high-tech and complicated issues on the Energy and Commerce Committee, but this bill aims to address the most basic function for a telephone system: making sure all Americans' phone calls go through. Many people take our modern communications tools for granted, but, in rural America, even the basic function of connecting a call is sometimes difficult. Consumers have been reporting to the FCC that calls in rural areas result in false busy signals, calls not arriving, or long pauses after dialing a number. This isn't just an important problem for rural Americans but also for people in all of our districts who want to reach loved ones across the country and can't. This state of affairs is simply not acceptable. We need reliable telephone service to keep us connected. Problems with call completion are often related to intermediate providers--the middlemen hired to route calls. This bill requires intermediate providers to register with the FCC and comply with service quality standards. These commonsense steps should make it easier to figure out when providers are cutting corners or not doing their jobs. Ultimately, the bill puts consumers first by helping to make sure that we can stay connected to one another. H.R. 460 is a bipartisan bill that passed on suspension last Congress, and I urge my colleagues to support it today. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Welch), a distinguished colleague on the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I have no other speakers. I yield back the balance of my time.