Late last month, Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) and Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) held a hearing to discuss congressional action on net neutrality. The representatives, who chair House committees that oversee the Federal Communica-tions Commission (FCC), also released an early draft of a bill to regulate the open flow of information on the Internet.
The top four internet service providers (AT&T, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon Communications) contributed $156,300 to bill sponsors Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) and Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) during the 2014 election cycle.
Consumer advocates have argued the draft proposal fails to adequately regulate net neutrality, and instead voiced support of FCC Commissioner Tom Wheeler’s efforts to regulate the internet like a utility. The FCC is scheduled to vote on Commissioner Wheeler’s proposal on Feb. 26.
MapLight, a non-profit and nonpartisan research organization that tracks money in politics, analyzed campaign contributions from employees and political action committees of the four largest internet service providers (AT&T, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon Communications) to the campaign committees of Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) and Greg Walden (R-OR) during the 2014 election cycle (Jan. 1, 2013, through Dec. 31, 2014).
The top four internet service providers gave $99,500 to bill sponsor Rep. Upton during the 2014 election cycle.
The top four internet service providers gave $56,800 to bill sponsor Rep. Walden during the 2014 election cycle.
Comcast gave $69,650 to bill sponsors Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) and Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) during the 2014 election cycle.
To view more detailed lobbying data for the top four ISPs, go online to maplight.org/us-congress/lobbying and enter the company’s name in the search box.
Contributions data source: Federal Election Commission. For additional information about the MapLight research organization, go online to maplight.org/.
