The Telecom Connection

In 2017, Trump's FCC chair Ajit Pai eliminated net neutrality rules protecting consumers from ISP throttling and blocking. Blackburn publicly supported the repeal and used her position as House Commerce subcommittee chair to block any congressional response. That same cycle, AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast were among her top donors.

The connection: Net neutrality rules were the single largest regulatory constraint on AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast's ability to charge differential rates for different internet traffic and block competitive services. Their removal was worth hundreds of millions in projected future revenue to the major carriers. Blackburn's role in ensuring no congressional restoration occurred protected that revenue.

Source: FCC Restoring Internet Freedom Order (2017); OpenSecrets cycle contribution data; Congressional Research Service analysis

After the federal repeal, several states began enacting their own net neutrality laws. Blackburn introduced HR 4682 — her signature legislation — which would have preempted all state net neutrality rules, permanently locking in the deregulated status quo nationwide.

The bill was strongly supported by AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast lobbyists. It did not pass the Senate, but its introduction served as a signal to the telecom industry that Blackburn was willing to use her legislative position to prevent state-level accountability frameworks — even those that would have protected rural Tennessee consumers from the ISP monopolies they have no alternative to.

Source: Congress.gov HR 4682, 115th Congress; Electronic Frontier Foundation analysis; FCC preemption authority legal analysis

In 2024, Senate Democrats brought S.J.Res.52 to the floor — a Congressional Review Act resolution to restore net neutrality rules. Blackburn voted against it. The resolution failed.

By this point she had been in the Senate for six years and had collected consistent telecom industry contributions across every election cycle. Her vote against restoration was consistent with her entire legislative record and with the interests of her telecom donors.

Source: Senate.gov roll call vote on S.J.Res.52 (2024); OpenSecrets donor records

Municipal and cooperative broadband networks — built and operated by local governments or rural electric cooperatives — represent the most direct competitive threat to AT&T, Comcast, and Charter in rural markets. When a county builds its own fiber network, private ISPs lose a captive customer base.

Blackburn has consistently opposed federal programs that fund or protect municipal broadband, aligned with telecom industry positions. In rural Tennessee, where the profit margin for private ISP deployment is often insufficient to attract private capital, municipal broadband is frequently the only realistic path to high-speed connectivity. Her opposition keeps those markets locked for private carriers — or, increasingly, for Starlink.

Source: Blackburn floor statements; telecom industry lobbying disclosures; Institute for Local Self-Reliance Community Broadband Networks tracker