WASHINGTON — On Tuesday, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R–Oregon) announced his plans to invite the CEOs of the largest phone, cable and internet companies to a September hearing on “ground rules for the internet.”

Free Press Action Fund Campaign Director Candace Clement made the following statement:

“The idea that Net Neutrality is something that just needs to be sorted out between the executives of multibillion-dollar companies is insulting. The millions and millions who have weighed in on this debate care about the open internet because it enables people to organize in their communities, fight for racial justice, start their own businesses and speak for themselves. Representative Walden’s approach is reminiscent of those congressional hearings on reproductive rights that were made up entirely of men. Who will represent internet users, innovative startups and independent voices at this hearing? This is an internet hearing without the internet. The Republican leadership in Congress and at the FCC have closed their ears to these voices and ignored the overwhelming evidence that the rules on the books are working just fine.

“Pretending to be for Net Neutrality is all the rage in Washington, but we know the truth: Companies like Comcast and their friends in Congress have spent more than a decade on lobbying, bills and lawsuits designed to undermine the open internet and the authority needed to actually keep broadband providers in line. Real Net Neutrality means Title II. Period. And anyone who tells you otherwise is just trying to take it away.”