As of today, 26 senators have banded together in the fight against the FCC’s decision to roll back net neutrality protections.
The vote has removed the “tough net neutrality rules” put in place by the FCC 2 years ago, which “prevented internet providers from blocking and throttling traffic and offering paid fast lanes” and “classified internet providers as Title II common carriers in order to give the measure strong legal backing”, according to The Verge.
Just a week after the FCC passed the measure in a 3-2 vote, Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) introduced a resolution to reinstate the previous net neutrality rules.
“We will fight the FCC’s decisions in the courts, and we will fight it in the halls of Congress,” Markey said in a statement.
Many democrat and independent lawmakers around the country are also part of the fight, including one republican who just recently went public with her opposition of the FCC decisions.
Sen. Sue Collins’ (R-Maine) is the first GOP member of Congress to speak out against ending net neutrality.
“Internet providers must not manage their system in an anti-competitive way that limits consumers’ choices,” a spokesperson for Senator Collins said to the the Bangor Daily News.
Other senators who have joined the fight to reinstate net neutrality protections include Ron Wyden (D-OR), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).
The final version of the net neutrality repeal was released on Thursday by the FCC. So now that the repeal went public, many state attorney generals will soon file lawsuits against the FCC as well as these 26 senators who vow to “vote for a resolution that would overrule the FCC through the Congressional Review Act,” according to The Verve. This will give Congress 60 days to block the FCC’s decision along with possible prevention of something like this happening again in the future.
“When enough people speak up, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have to sit up and take notice – and that’s exactly what we’re seeing happen today,” Fight for the Future, a nonprofit organization fighting for a free and open internet, said in a statement.
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