--- title: Here's What 5 Republican Candidates Said About Net Neutrality description: A rough consensus is emerging among the Republican presidential field against net neutrality. canonical: https://time.com/3737530/2016-republicans-net-neutrality/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-09T20:12:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:48:31.499Z article:section: Politics og:title: Five 2016 Republicans Oppose Net Neutrality og:description: They say it would hurt the free market og:url: https://time.com/3737530/2016-republicans-net-neutrality/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb195210e69043718/6987828435ba6f8386c07701/jeb-bush-politics-t100-poll.jpg?branch=production&width=268&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 268 og:image:height: 151 og:image:alt: Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida, listens to a question during an interview with Sean Hannity at (CPAC) in National Harbor, Md. on Feb. 27, 2015. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Five 2016 Republicans Oppose Net Neutrality twitter:description: They say it would hurt the free market twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb195210e69043718/6987828435ba6f8386c07701/jeb-bush-politics-t100-poll.jpg?branch=production&width=268&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Five 2016 Republicans Oppose Net Neutrality > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Mar 9, 2015 8:12 PM UTC  Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida, listens to a question during an interview with Sean Hannity at (CPAC) in National Harbor, Md. on Feb. 27, 2015. Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida, listens to a question during an interview with Sean Hannity at (CPAC) in National Harbor, Md. on Feb. 27, 2015. Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Mar 9, 2015 8:12 PM UTC A rough consensus is emerging among the Republican presidential field against net neutrality. Five major candidates for the 2016 nomination have come out against a recent decision by the Federal Communications Commission to [regulate how cable companies handle Internet speeds.](http://time.com/3723722/fcc-net-neutrality-2/) The FCC decision would prevent cable companies from creating “fast lanes” on the Internet, holding to the current system in which all web traffic is treated the same. [President Obama](http://time.com/3576010/net-neutrality-barack-obama-fcc-open-internet/) and likely Democratic frontrunner [Hillary Clinton](http://time.com/3737666/hillary-clinton-women-equality/) have backed the FCC’s moves on net neutrality. The five Republican contenders, meantime, argued that the regulations are unnecessary at best and harmful to the free market at worst. Here’s a look at what they said, in order from least to most opposed. **Gov. Scott Walker:** “I think on that … the guiding principle should be freedom.” ([The Hill](http://thehill.com/policy/technology/234041-scott-walker-punts-on-net-neutrality%20)) **Sen. Marco Rubio:** “We are regulating where regulation is not needed. We are regulating based on speculation, regulating in search of a problem.” ([The Hill](http://thehill.com/policy/technology/192713-rubio-claims-internet-freedom-in-jeopardy-without-net-neutrality-are-ridiculous%20)) **Jeb Bush:** “The idea of regulating access to the Internet with a 1934 law is one of the craziest ideas I’ve ever heard. … It’s not going to be good for consumers. It’s certainly not going to be good for innovation.” ([TIME](http://time.com/3736443/net-neutrality-fcc-jeb-bush/%20)) **Sen. Ted Cruz:** “‘Net neutrality’ is Obamacare for the Internet; the Internet should not operate at the speed of government.” ([Twitter](https://twitter.com/SenTedCruz/status/531834493922189313)) **Sen. Rand Paul:** “These attempts to regulate the Internet are a direct attack on the freedom of information and an innovative market. The government needs to stay out of the way.” ([Newsmax](http://www.newsmax.com/TheWire/rand-paul-fcc-net-neutrality/2015/02/09/id/623648/%20)) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3737530/2016-republicans-net-neutrality/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3737530/2016-republicans-net-neutrality/"},"headline":"Five 2016 Republicans Oppose Net Neutrality","datePublished":"2015-03-09T20:12:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:48:31.499Z","description":"A rough consensus is emerging among the Republican presidential field against net neutrality.","url":"https://time.com/3737530/2016-republicans-net-neutrality/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","Tech","Net neutrality"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb195210e69043718/6987828435ba6f8386c07701/jeb-bush-politics-t100-poll.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb195210e69043718/6987828435ba6f8386c07701/jeb-bush-politics-t100-poll.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida, listens to a question during an interview with Sean Hannity at (CPAC) in National Harbor, Md. on Feb. 27, 2015.","caption":"Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida, listens to a question during an interview with Sean Hannity at (CPAC) in National Harbor, Md. on Feb. 27, 2015.","creditText":"Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3737530/2016-republicans-net-neutrality/","name":"Five 2016 Republicans Oppose Net Neutrality"}}]}] ```