Al Franken's Blog, page 31

Esquire: Now We Know He’s Good Enough

In which we learn that Senator Al Franken is good at his job.

Lost amid all the huffing and blowing regarding the startling revelations that rich people like the Clintons have lots of money and that they know a lot of rich people who have a lot of money, the marriage of Time Warner and Comcast has been called off. And I just bought some nice candlesticks, too.

Opponents portrayed Comcast’s takeover effort as a land grab that would have given the company too much leverage in the industry, and over the last year lawmakers, consumers, public advocacy groups and media and technology companies rallied against the merger. Complaints reached a fever pitch in recent weeks. The fears were plenty: that customers would end up paying more for declining service; that the industry behemoth would use its heft to stifle competition in the budding online video business; that there would be a lack of independent and diverse voices on television. Critics also criticized the company for failing to live up to promises it had made in previous deals, particularly its acquisition of NBCUniversal in 2011.

That last sentence is a real gem, by the way. “Critics also criticized.” And haterz gotta hate. And grifterz gotta grift. And huge media conglomeratez gotta conglomerate. Or not.

This is a gigantic win for consumers. It’s also a gigantic win for Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.), which still sounds amazing to me, even now that he’s in his second term.

U.S. Senator Al Franken, Minnesota -- Official Campaign Website.

CNN: For Al Franken, a Comcast victory 14 months in the making

He was the only senator to immediately and staunchly oppose the planned merger between the two companies. He was joined by only a few others on Capitol Hill, even as it became increasingly clear that the merger might not win government approval.

Now Franken can take the congressional version of a victory lap.

“This is a great day for American consumers,” he said Friday when Comcast (CCV) formally withdrew from the merger amid signs that the government was going to block it.

“This was an uphill battle,” he said, “and I’m enormously proud of our victory.”

U.S. Senator Al Franken, Minnesota -- Official Campaign Website.

NY Times: Under Regulators’ Scrutiny, Comcast and Time Warner Cable End Deal

Regulators declared victory on Friday after Comcast and Time Warner Cable confirmed that they had aborted their $45 billion merger, which would have created a truly national cable company with unprecedented control over the future of the country’s television and broadband markets.

The unraveling of the deal came after Attorney General Eric Holder told Justice Department lawyers at a meeting two weeks ago that they had his support in deciding to challenge the transaction, according to a person with knowledge of the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

The collapse quickly set off a new round of deal chatter. On Friday, bankers representing Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications, the regional cable operator, started early talks, according to one person with knowledge of the discussions. Last year Charter, backed by the billionaire John C. Malone, lost out to Comcast in the bidding for Time Warner Cable, and Mr. Malone had said they would try again if the Comcast takeover fell through.

A Charter spokesman declined to comment.

The Comcast-Time Warner Cable deal would have brought together the country’s two largest cable operators at a time when the Internet acts as the ultimate gateway for information and entertainment, and when vast technology changes revolutionize how people watch and pay for television.

Combined, the companies would have controlled as much as 57 percent of the nation’s broadband market and just under 30 percent of pay television service. That threshold appeared to be too much for federal regulators, who had signaled that they were leaning toward blocking the deal.

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Star Tribune: U.S. steel industry needs a level playing field

The recent news that 1,100 iron-ore mining jobs will be lost in northeastern Minnesota was a sharp blow for the entire state. These are good-paying jobs that won’t easily be replaced. That’s troubling not only for families and towns reliant on these companies, but for a state still working to push its way past the last recession.

In St. Paul, state officials and lawmakers must move quickly to explore all possible ways to soften the impact for displaced workers and Iron Range communities. MNsure staff members are working with the state Department of Employment and Economic Development, as well as northeastern Minnesota officials, to help prevent health insurance coverage gaps. That’s a welcome effort. At the State Capitol, legislation that merits serious consideration includes a bill, whose chief author is Rep. Tom Anzelc, DFL-Balsam Township, that could potentially reduce large mining operations’ energy costs. That would help these firms better compete globally.

But iron-mining woes aren’t just a Minnesota problem, which is why Congress also needs to step up. Idling plants in Minnesota is a symptom of the larger, vexing woes of the United States steel industry (iron-ore pellets made from taconite are a critical steelmaking ingredient). A steel glut on the world market has dramatically driven down prices and led to surging imports. Excess global capacity was estimated by a 2014 Economic Policy Institute (EPI) report at over half a billion metric tons. A strong U.S. dollar has also worked against domestic producers.

Cyclical downturns have long plagued the steel industry, as Minnesota’s Iron Rangers know all too well. New technologies, mergers and efficiency also make it unlikely that the industry will ever return to peak historical employment. Still, it remains an important and strategic part of the U.S. economy. The EPI report concludes that more than 500,000 steel-industry-linked jobs are at risk from what it called the “worst import crisis in more than a decade.”

Congress needs to do what it can to ensure that the industry can compete fairly. U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, has reintroduced legislation aimed at doing this. It’s called the “Leveling the Playing Field Act.” The bill, S. 891, would strengthen protections against unfair trade practices by foreign steel producers and governments, preventing them from illegally “dumping” large amounts of cheap steel into the U.S. It also would allow domestic steel producers to seek redress, such as tariffs or duties, more expediently. Minnesota Sen. Al Franken has signed on as one of the first cosponsors.

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NY Times: Comcast’s Track Record in Past Deals May Be Hitch for Merger With Time Warner Cable

In July 2013, executives from the three companies that co-owned Hulu — Comcast, 21st Century Fox and Walt Disney — had a conversation about their joint venture. Hulu, the video streaming service, had been on the auction block, and lucrative bids had come in from two Comcast rivals, AT&T and the satellite operator DirecTV, among other potential buyers.

Comcast told its counterparts that it could enhance Hulu’s value, which influenced their thinking about the fate of the service, according to several people with knowledge of the conversation, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions were confidential. The issue was not money; some of the bids came in at more than $1 billion, one person said.

Within days, Fox and Disney announced that the sale of Hulu had been called off for the second time in two years.

The discussion among the companies, which took place at the Allen & Company conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, raises questions about the degree to which Comcast was trying to influence the operations of Hulu, which it acquired a stake in when it took over NBCUniversal in 2011. As part of the deal it struck with government regulators for that acquisition, Comcast had agreed not to “influence, interfere or attempt to influence or interfere” in the management or operation of Hulu. The company made similar agreements with the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission.

Comcast’s record of compliance involving Hulu as well as several other conditions it agreed to in the NBCUniversal deal is now in the spotlight as regulators scrutinize Comcast’s proposed $45 billion takeover of Time Warner Cable. The deal would unite the country’s two largest cable operators, controlling just under 30 percent of the pay television subscribers and 35 to 50 percent of the nation’s broadband Internet service, depending on how regulators define the market.

The Justice Department is evaluating whether the merger is anticompetitive and is scheduled to meet with Comcast on Wednesday to discuss it. The F.C.C. is considering whether the deal is in the public interest, and regulators in New York and California are also examining it.

Should regulators approve the merger, they will most likely place conditions on it. How Comcast complied with the conditions of the NBCUniversal merger provides a window into how the company is likely to behave, some analysts and critics have said.

“The track record is bad on conditions,” Senator Al Franken, a Minnesota Democrat who has urged regulators to block the deal, said in an interview on Tuesday. “They can’t be trusted, and they shouldn’t be.”

A Comcast spokeswoman, Sena Fitzmaurice, said in a statement on Tuesday, “Comcast had no role in making, evaluating or reconsidering any management decisions at Hulu.”

She added: “The decision not to sell Hulu was made only by the members of their managing board on which Comcast does not sit and has no role. At the time of the decision, executives of both Disney and Fox discussed publicly their compelling reasons not to sell.”

Mr. Franken has been a vocal critic of the deal since it was announced last year. In an op-ed published this week, he pointed to a several issues related to the company’s compliance with the conditions that it agreed to as part of its NBCUniversal acquisition. Those include a fine by the F.C.C. for violating an agreement to create a stand-alone broadband product for people who wanted to subscribe to Internet service but not television. While Comcast offered the service, it was found to not actively promote it.

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The post NY Times: Comcast’s Track Record in Past Deals May Be Hitch for Merger With Time Warner Cable appeared first on U.S. Senator Al Franken, Minnesota -- Official Campaign Website.

National Journal: Senate Democrats Press Regulators to Kill Comcast Deal

Sen. Al Franken is leading the crusade against Comcast’s purchase of Time Warner as the government nears a decision.

Six liberal senators urged federal regulators on Tuesday to block Comcast’s planned $45 billion purchase of Time Warner Cable.

The effort, led by Democratic Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota, comes as the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission edge closer to a decision on the massive cable deal.

The companies are set to meet Wednesday with the Justice Department in an attempt to convince officials to let the deal go through. Justice Department staff lawyers are leaning towards recommending that their superiors block the deal, Bloomberg reported last week.

The senators are pressing the agencies to ignore the pleas of the cable companies.

“Should the transaction survive the FCC’s and DOJ’s reviews, we believe that Comcast-TWC’s unmatched power in the telecommunications industry would lead to higher prices, fewer choices, and poorer quality services for Americans—inhibiting U.S. consumers’ ability to fully benefit from modern technologies and American businesses’ capacity to innovate and compete on a global scale,” wrote Franken, along with Democratic Sens. Edward Markey of Massachusetts, Ron Wyden of Oregon, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, along with independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Read the full article >>

The post National Journal: Senate Democrats Press Regulators to Kill Comcast Deal appeared first on U.S. Senator Al Franken, Minnesota -- Official Campaign Website.

Al’s TechCrunch OpEd: The Tide Is Turning Against Comcast’s Proposal To Buy Time Warner Cable

Reports that attorneys at the Department of Justice (DOJ) may recommend blocking Comcast’s proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable are good news, because if this $45 billion deal goes through, it will create a telecom behemoth unlike anything we’ve ever seen before.

Comcast is already the nation’s largest cable company and largest broadband Internet provider; Time Warner Cable is the second-largest cable company and third-largest broadband Internet provider. Under the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) updated definition of broadband, the new mega-Comcast would control 57 percent of the high-speed Internet market.

This colossus of a company would have unmatched power to destroy its competition, abuse its customers, and bully the government agencies charged with regulating it. Consumers would face even higher prices, even fewer choices, and, if you can believe such a thing is possible, even worse service.

That’s why I’ve been a vocal opponent of this proposed acquisition since shortly after it was announced last year. I think consumers should come first when it comes to technology policy – and I believe they’ll get a raw deal if this transaction is allowed to go through.

The fight to stop this acquisition is an uphill battle against a corporation that is already incredibly powerful. But there are good reasons to believe we have a shot.

Here’s one of them: A year ago, it looked like net neutrality was in real trouble. Even though the Internet had always been a free and open platform, the big Internet service providers (ISPs) had been pushing the FCC to create fast and slow lanes online – and in May 2014, the FCC issued a draft proposal that would have done exactly that. ISPs like Comcast stood to make a ton of extra money by charging websites through the nose for access to the fast lanes, but for consumers and small (and most large) businesses, the end of net neutrality would have been a disaster.

So we organized, and we fought back. Millions of Americans raised their voices in protest – signing petitions, writing letters, even showing up at congressional hearings. And we won: The FCC changed its mind and decided to adopt bright-line rules to preserve net neutrality, ensuring that the Internet will remain a place where everyone can participate on equal footing, without fast and slow lanes, and free from interference from the big ISPs.

The successful effort to save net neutrality is an example of how grassroots organizing can overcome the big guys’ lobbying power. But it also provides a prime example of how duplicitous these big guys can be in trying to get their way.

Read Al’s full OpEd >>

The post Al’s TechCrunch OpEd: The Tide Is Turning Against Comcast’s Proposal To Buy Time Warner Cable appeared first on U.S. Senator Al Franken, Minnesota -- Official Campaign Website.

Equal Pay Day

If I told you that you had to work 104 days extra to earn the same money as somebody else for similar work, you’d say that sounded wrong, right?

Well it’s reality for more than half the American public.

April 14, 2015 is Equal Pay Day. It’s the day when women’s earnings finally catch up to men’s earnings from last year. For those of you counting, that’s 104 extra days.

Nationally, women earn 78% of what men earn. But not all states are created equal. You can see the gender wage gap in your state on the map below.



In 2013, the median annual earnings for women were about $10,000 lower than men’s earnings. Think about that — with an increasing number of households relying on women’s income to pay the bills, that’s $10,000 that middle class families can’t bank.

Here’s the simple truth: the gender pay gap shouldn’t exist anymore. Women deserve equal pay for an equal day’s work. We’ve made strides in the right direction — but the gender wage gap hasn’t budged much in a decade. We need to do more.

This year, for Equal Pay Day, let’s show that we’re standing with the millions of American women in support of progress. I’ve got a petition demanding that Congress take action to close the gender wage gap. If you can, click here to sign it.

Let’s work together to make sure that in the near future, Equal Pay Day is celebrated when it should be — December 31st.

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USA Today: Al Franken pushes David Letterman for Senate

Sen. Al Franken has a suggestion for David Letterman’s new career after the comedian says goodbye to late-night TV in May.

Why not run for Senate in Indiana, since GOP Sen. Dan Coats is retiring after the 2016 elections?

Franken, the Saturday Night Live comedian-turned-politician, was discussing Indiana’s controversial “religious freedom” law when Letterman, a Hoosier, asked what could be done to make Gov. Mike Pence feel “uncomfortable.”

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KEYC: Sen. Al Franken Makes Stop In Mankato On Rural Health Tour

Senator Al Franken made his 18th stop on his Rural Health Tour, spending much of his morning at the Open Door Health Center, meeting with rural health experts.

Senator Al Franken is on a mission to improve rural health care, and to make it happen, he made a stop in Mankato to hear what health care issues are affecting those close to home.

Senator Al Franken said, “Heard a lot of good, some stuff I’ve been hearing a lot about electronic medical records and how we don’t really have them communicating with each other with different health systems and we need to improve that.”

Franken is the Co–chair of the bipartisan Senate Rural Health Care Caucus, and led the discussion with dozens of local health experts from all over the region.

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