When FCC chairman Ajit Pai, under the rule of Trump’s administration, declared that he would pursue to put an end to the Obama-era net neutrality rules, most people thought that it would be game over for net neutrality in the country. This seemed quite simple because changing FCC rules requires a majority vote of FCC Commissioners in favor of ending net neutrality. And on top of that, the party that controls the executive branch also controls most seats on the FCC.
As foreseen, the FCC voted for the inversion of net neutrality rules in November, 3-2 along party lines. But House Democrats were quite not ready for this big technological change that may prove to have quite adverse effects on the people of United States in the future. The Democrats have silently put forward a bill using the Congressional Review Act, a known piece of legislature which was up to now, was almost entirely been used by Republicans to overturn federal rules put in place by the Obama administration.
Against all the odds, the bill is assembling co-sponsors and even Republican support, and it now looks like it has a genuine chance of getting the votes to pass through the Senate.
Senator Ed Markey wrote a bill under the CRA that would obliterate the FCC’s net neutrality revoke. And due to the support of Senate Democrats, it now has 40 co-sponsors, meaning it will have a full Senate vote in the near future. Right now, it seems highly likely that the bill will pass the Senate. Although Republicans hold a majority of 51 but we can expect all 49 Democratic senators to vote in favor of the CRA bill.
Thus meaning, that only two Republican congressmen need to support the bill, and one is already on board. Susan Collins, R-Maine, enunciated her support today for the bill with a spokesperson telling Bangor Daily News that “she believes that a careful, deliberative process involving experts and the public is warranted to ensure that consumers have strong protections that guarantee consumer choice, free markets and continued growth.”
But the situation right now is that even if the Democrats do get one more Republican to vote for the bill, and successfully pass it through Congress, the chances of preserving net neutrality by means of the Congressional Review Act seem not much. A bill would have to pass the House of Representatives, where Republicans have more control, and then be signed into law by President Trump. Given the fact that he was the one who backed the FCC’s repeal of net neutrality provisions in the first place, the chances of that happening are lesser than we expect.
But the truth is that net neutrality enjoys exceptionally high support from both Democratic and Republican voters right now. Public thrashed the repeal of net neutrality during the FCC’s public consultation period. If Democrats can force a vote in the Senate, and in an ideal world, a vote in the House, they would be compelling Republican lawmakers to take a very public stance on net neutrality during the next elections.
