Senate Democrats Have a Plan to Save Net Neutrality

[riversedge]

Source: wired.com



Author: Charles E. Schumer

02.27.18 08:00 am

Congress can keep the FCC from eliminating net neutrality, argues senator Chuck Schumer.
Andy Clement/Getty Images

Last Thursday, the Republican-led Federal Communications Commission formally published a rule reversing long-standing and vital protections of the internet known as net neutrality. The FCC’s new rule would let big corporations restrict how consumers access their favorite websites by forcing them to buy internet access in packages, paying more for "premium” service, as with cable television.


Charles E. Schumer (@SenSchumer) (D-NY) is the Democratic minority leader of the United States Senate.

This would be a radical departure from the intended nature of the internet, whose inventors last year cited its openness and neutrality as one of the foremost reasons to reject the FCC’s “fundamentally flawed” plan.

Not all is lost, however. Whenever an agency publishes a new rule in the Federal Register, it sets in motion a countdown clock of 60 legislative days for Congress to overturn it.

That means that now is the moment to #SavetheInternet.

Senate Democrats are proposing to undo the FCC’s wrongheaded rule through a process set up by the Congressional Review Act. Unlike most legislation, which must be put on the floor by the majority party and often requires 60 votes in order to move forward, a CRA can be passed with the support of just 51 senators. And any group of 30 of them can force the Senate to consider it. CRA resolutions allow Congress to overturn regulatory actions at federal agencies with a simple majority vote in both chambers. In accordance with the Congressional Review Act, the senators will formally introduce the resolution once the rule is submitted to both houses of Congress and published in the federal register. 1

All 49 senators in the Democratic caucus are united in support of our CRA to stop the FCC from destroying the free and open internet. We also have the backing of senator Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, who has pledged to vote with us.

That leaves just one more vote to ensure the internet remains free and accessible to all.................

Read more: https://www.wired.com/story/senate-democrats-have-a-plan-to-save-net-neutrality/

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We only need ONE more Republican. Please contact your Republican Senators as ask to sign on. Thanks

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[Angry Dragon]

1. We need net-neutrality

[ehrnst]

2. Yep. (nt)

[2left4u]

3. ?

I'm 50/50 on this.

It seems there are good points and bad points on both sides of the argument. I wish I understood it more versus talking points.

I don't want Comcast or Century Link controlling what I get, I don't want Facebook, Amazon or Google controlling it either (I think the later should be broken up as they are monopolies).
Internet seems to have been just fine without net neutrality before..and the big internet companies seem to be squealing the most about it (they seem to have done just fine without net neutrality) I don't get it.

Feel free to educate me so I'm better informed if you wish.

[ehrnst]

4. Burger King actually came out with the best explanation

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-burger-king-whopper-net-neutrality-20180125-story.html

[2left4u]

6. Thanks

That was funny.
One question: why haven't they implemented that before?

[DemocracyMouse]

5. HOW's THIS: The internet is now the information system of the nation...

...and therefore should be regulated like a public utility. Think of it as the flow of cool, clear water nourishing the dialogue of a free and democratic society. If it's not neutral and flowing freely, the monopolies can install taps (as it were) outside your house, reduce the flow, then charge you to turn them back on.

The truth is that we now have the technology to provide plenty of text, pix and video to the entire country – and very cheaply. The media oligopolies like Comcast are interfering in our country's advancement. There is no technical barrier to everyone having fast, cheap internet everywhere. Back when this country had a spine we would have nationalized the intermet in the service of the 1st Amendment. It was invented in the first place with national research funds.

[2left4u]

7. Thank You

Did they charge before and net neutrality stopped it?

[laserhaas]

8. One vote away......

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[Hermit-The-Prog]

9. make some noise

(Just k&r'ing this)

[dchill]

10. K&R.

[onenote]

11. oddly misleading

One more vote in the Senate isn't going to overturn the repeal of the net neutrality rules. A Congressional Review Act resolution has to pass both the house and senate and is subject to a presidential veto.

I'm not saying that there is no value, as a political move, in forcing Senators to go on the record with respect to net neutrality. There is.

But the CRA resolution will never get to a vote in the House and if it did, and by some miracle it passed, it would be vetoed by Trump and that veto would not be overridden.