ENSIGN CO-SPONSORS AMENDMENT TO KEEP GOVERNMENT OUT OF INTERNET.

WASHINGTON -- The following information was released by Nevada Senator John Ensign:

Senator John Ensign, a member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, today signed on to an amendment to keep restrictive government regulation out of the Internet and to prohibit the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from implementing new rules regarding net neutrality.

"In this struggling economy, any industry that is able to thrive should be allowed to do so without meddlesome government interference that could stifle innovation," said Ensign. "We must avoid burdensome government regulations that micro-manage private businesses or that limit the ability of companies to provide what their customers want. The Internet has flourished in large part because of a lack of government interference; I see no need to change that now."

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski announced today that the FCC intends to implement rules to regulate companies that provide Internet service. Chairman Genachowski proposes to create six FCC-enforceable rules to restrict how telephone, cable and wireless companies operate their Internet networks and how they manage their Internet traffic. If these rules are implemented, the federal government will be involved in the explicit regulation of Internet network operations for the first time.