Net Neutrality Rises From The Grave!
Remember that the FCC recently decided to murder the internet and everyone declared net neutrality dead dead de3adD? Well. Somebody called the necromancer, because there’s hope yet!
Republican Senators John Kennedy (R-LA), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) joined the Dems on a bill overturning the FCC decision a -it passed with 52 to 47 votes. Sidenote: let’s hope the latter two don’t flip again at some key juncture, like with the ACA business…
Now this bill will go to the House, where it needs to come to a vote and get a simple majority. If that works out it would move on to our Godforsaken White House for signature (or veto).
The bill was made possible by the Congressional Review Act (CRA), which allows Congress to overrule decisions from regulators like the FCC. Per Quartz:
[The CRA] allows Congress to overturn executive agencies’ regulations. The Supreme Court had ruled a similar procedure unconstitutional in 1983, so the CRA created a period of 60 “session days” (when Congress is in session) for legislators to gather enough support to force a majority vote in the House and Senate to overturn agency rules. The president then has to sign the resolution. To make it stick, the CRA prohibits agencies from reissuing any rule in “substantially the same form,” effectively turning the CRA into a law-making tool in its own right.
Fun fact: The CRA was brought to us in 1996 by then House Speaker and alleged human Newt Gingrich.
Though the GOP isn’t very into net neutrality and they hold the House, “more than 100 Republican representatives declined to sign onto a letter supporting the FCC’s initial deregulatory decision, indicating there may be some wiggle room on the issue.” [from Popular Mechanics. Yes, it’s at least 14% pure news source. Totally acceptable by today’s standards. Thank you, Popular Mechanics.]
You know what else I learned from Popular Mechanics? 5 ways to avoid a bear attack by properly configuring my GPS. It saved my life. Twice. And you know what else I learned from Popular Mechanics? That “Washington and Oregon have passed laws protecting net neutrality to various degrees [and that] other states, such as Montana, have begun to fight back with executive orders.”
Personally, I find it comforting that this is already being fought at the state level. But still, let’s hope that the massive pushback from everyone but their damn donors will motivate enough Republicans to vote for the bill coming their way.
For the details on how this has to go down in the House and on what is effective in campaigning for the bill, please see this really informative piece by Fight for the Future (@fightfortheftr).
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If this matters to you call your representatives (202 224 3121) and tell them to support this bill! It will take you a full 90 seconds to do this, but we all make sacrifices.
