OK, I'll bite: tubes/pipes/flow is a bad analogy for packet-based network transmission.
Overall though, it doesn't make sense to argue the required corrections of this statement unless you also think a good analogy for a simple circuit is "wires are straws through which electricity pours".
There isn't really a good replacement metaphor. As far as I can think of, there's just bad metaphors.
But an important part of demonstrating you're worthy of legislating the internet is talking the talk - demonstrating you know how what the industry is and how the industry operates. A suitable replacement statement which demonstrates a command of the basic ideas would be:
"If we exceed the capacity of our internet backbones, critical services -- as well as consumer services -- will be impacted."
For me, "tubes" was less of a gaffe than referring to an email as an "Internet". The former was a bad metaphor, the latter was a failure of basic layman terminology. It means either you don't know what you're talking about, or you're a bad communicator, and either of those should be disqualifying of your post as the head of a senate committee on internet legislation.
OK, I'll bite: tubes/pipes/flow is a bad analogy for packet-based network transmission.
Overall though, it doesn't make sense to argue the required corrections of this statement unless you also think a good analogy for a simple circuit is "wires are straws through which electricity pours".