Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., lambasted the FCC NPRM...

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., lambasted the FCC NPRM on net neutrality. “If the FCC allows huge corporations to negotiate ‘fast lane deals,’ then the Internet will eventually be sold to the highest bidder,” Sanders said Tuesday on the Senate floor. “This is grotesquely unfair and this will be a disaster for our economy and for small businesses all across our country.” He thanked Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel for their defense of net neutrality and questioned the positions of Commissioners Aji Pai and Mike O'Rielly. “When you talk about deregulating the Internet, you're talking about allowing money, big money, to talk,” which is “very, very wrong,” Sanders said. Internet providers should be treated like utilities, Sanders said. He recounted asking Vermont residents to weigh in on the possibility of regulators’ “attempt to do away with” net neutrality. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has defended his proposal as one that asks questions, including whether to attempt to ban paid prioritization deals and if so, how, and also emphasizes that as of now, there are no net neutrality protections in the U.S. (CD May 16 p1).