Senate approves bipartisan resolution to restore FCC net neutrality rules
The Senate approved a resolution May 16 that aims to undo a sweeping act of deregulation undertaken last year by the Federal Communications Commission, issuing a rebuke to the Trump administration, which supported the FCC’s move.
The resolution targets the FCC’s vote in December to repeal its net neutrality rules for Internet providers. If successful, the legislative gambit could restore the agency’s regulations and hand a victory to tech companies, activists, and consumer advocacy groups.
The congressional effort comes less than a month before the rules are officially expected to expire, on June 11. And the high-profile vote could shine a spotlight on lawmakers running for reelection during a tough midterm season.
Senate supporters of the FCC rules put forward the legislation under the Congressional Review Act, a law that permits Congress to revisit—and reject—decisions by administrative agencies within a certain window of their approval. The resolution, or CRA for short, passed with the backing of all 49 Democratic senators and three Republicans: Sens. Susan Collins of ME, John N. Kennedy of LA, and Lisa A. Murkowski of AK.
Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-MA), who led the CRA effort, called the vote a victory for democracy and the economy on the afternoon of May 16.
Kennedy’s vote was highly sought by Democrats in the run-up to the vote. Markey and Kennedy have met and discussed the issue numerous times in recent weeks, according to a Democratic aide, and the two lawmakers’ staffs have been in “constant communication.”
Still, it is unclear what fate may await the measure in the House. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) urged the House to take up the issue quickly.
The net neutrality regulations, imposed on broadband companies such as AT&T, Verizon and Comcast in 2015, banned the industry from blocking or slowing down websites. The rules also prohibited those companies from offering websites and app developers faster, easier access to Internet users in exchange for extra fees—a tactic that critics described as digital “fast lanes” that could distort online competition in favor of large, wealthy businesses.
Despite surviving a court challenge from broadband industry groups seeking to overturn the rules in 2016, they came under fire again a year later—this time from the agency’s new Republican leadership. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai led the charge against the net neutrality regulations, calling them an example of government overreach that discouraged Internet providers from investing in upgrades to their networks.
Pai said his agency’s “light-touch” approach would lead to better, faster Internet service for Americans—and more competition.
Last November, a month before he and the FCC’s two other Republicans, Michael O’Rielly and Brendan Carr, voted to repeal the rules, Pai said, “Under my proposal, the federal government will stop micromanaging the Internet.”
The agency’s two Democrats at the time, Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel, voted to keep the rules on the books.
On May 16, Pai said: “It’s disappointing that Senate Democrats forced this resolution through by a narrow margin. But, ultimately, I’m confident that their effort to reinstate heavy-handed government regulation of the Internet will fail.”
