WASHINGTON, DC:  Today, Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-MA) released the following statement regarding his selection as Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet:

“I am honored to be selected by my Democratic Energy and Commerce Committee colleagues to chair the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet in the 110th Congress.  The Subcommittee, which I chaired previously from 1987 through 1994 and for which I was the senior ranking Democrat for the last 12 years, has a rich history in ensuring consumer protection, promoting competition, fostering cutting-edge technologies and innovative new services, and protecting and enhancing the public interest.

“In this coming Congress the Subcommittee will have a full plate of issues to address.  Included in the topics that the panel will explore in the coming months are the issues of broadband deployment, access, and affordability, network neutrality, the digital television transition, consumer privacy, telecommunications competition, the public interest in the digital era, spectrum management and wireless policy, Internet governance, and oversight of the Federal Communications Commission, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 

“I believe that American citizens deserve a telecommunications infrastructure that is second to none.  Our telecommunications policies should embrace and foster technological innovation, competition, and consumer choice, even as such policies continue to embody the traditional communications guiding principles of universal service, localism, and diversity.

“In each and every issue area, I will strive to conduct the Subcommittee’s agenda and processes in a manner that is bipartisan and reflects the non-partisan nature of many of the issues before the panel."