Last week, we learned that the FCC officially published its net neutrality rollback plans in the Federal Register, which were voted on by the FCC back in December. Today, the battle to restore net neutrality is heading to the next phase and things are heating up. Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) introduced his Congressional Review Act ‘resolution of disapproval” that would start the process to undoing the vote that FCC proceeded with back in December.
Ever since the FCC voted to roll back the net neutrality protections that were put into effect back in 2015, Senator Markey has been hard at work since to introduce the CRA resolution. Since mid-January, the appeal has had support from all 49 Democrats in the Senate as well as Republican Susan Collins of Maine.
While Democrats have 49 votes and Rep. Collins, the bill still needs one more vote to break a potential Senate tiebreaker which bring in Vice President Mike Pence to vote, and he would most certainly vote to reject.
Last week’s official introduction of the FCC’s new rules, it gave 60 days to vote on Markey’s CRA. By April 23rd, if he can’t get a majority ruling, the rules will officially change and go into effect. The other thing to keep in mind is that even if the bill were to pass the Senate with 51 votes, it will still have to pass through the House of Representatives. In addition, it will have to also survive a veto from the President, and if that happens, a two-thirds vote is required in each Congressional chamber to overrule the President’s rejection.
If you’re interested in reading more on the CRA process, you should read this write-up from the New York Times because it’s definitely worth reading.
