Edward J. Markey has constructed an extraordinary legislative record since his first election to the United States Congress in 1976.

Edward J. Markey has constructed an extraordinary legislative record since his first election to the United States Congress in 1976. As the highest Ranking Democrat on the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, he has shaped more than 20 years of telecommunications policy while continuing to champion consumer rights, health reform and disease prevention, the elimination of large monopolies, the conservation of environmental resources and the reduction of nuclear threats.

His legislative record spans the breadth of Congressional policymaking, as befits a national leader with a commitment to a district which includes both blue-collar and high-tech suburbs north and west of downtown Boston.

Competition remains Rep. Markey's economic mantra–in his words, "ruthless Darwinian competition that would bring a smile to Adam Smith." Accordingly, he has been instrumental in breaking up anti-consumer, anti-innovative monopolies in electricity, long-distance and local telephone service, cable television, and international satellite services. He was one of the only members of the Commerce Committee to fight AT&T's monopoly in the early 80s and is a principal author of the requirement that the Bell Operating companies accept local telephone service in the 90s. His pro-competition policies have directly benefited job creation in Eastern Massachusetts and throughout the country.

In the 108th Congress, Rep. Markey remained very active on telecommunications issues, working to protect children on-line, to penalize unsolicited "spam" emails, to establish a Do-Not-Call list for telephone users, and to prevent the listing of cell phone numbers without the subscribers consent. Moreover, he is leading the House effort to preserve the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as wilderness and to protect the air of New England against pollution from industrial smokestacks. He is the leader of congressional efforts to increase research into a cure for the devastating effects of Alzheimer's Disease and founder of the Bipartisan Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer's Disease. He is also a Congressional spokesperson on energy policy, a key voice for providing privacy protections for personal information such as medical records, financial records, and purchases on-line. He co-founded the Congressional Caucus on Privacy. He also chairs a bipartisan, as well as the Bipartisan Task Force on Nonproliferation Policy, and was recently awarded the "Pathfinders Award" by a coalition of national organizations for his lifetime of fighting to reverse the spread of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.

He is the third most senior Democrat on the full Energy and Commerce Committee, where he serves on three subcommittees: Telecommunications and the Internet (Ranking Democrat), Oversight and Investigations, and Energy and Air Quality. He is also the second most senior Democrat on the full Resources Committee, where he serves on the Energy and Minerals subcommittee. In the 108th Congress, he was also appointed to serve on the House Select Committee on Homeland Security, where he sits on subcommittees on Intelligence and on Infrastructure and Border Security. Rep. Markey has been very active on this committee pressing to close major gaps in our homeland defenses in air cargo security on passenger planes, at LNG facilities and at nuclear facilities.

Rep. Edward Markey's Official Website

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