Net Neutrality ‘Day of Action’ in Works to Push U.S. House Vote

Net neutrality advocates have set a new “Day of Action” for November 29, to support a “Congressional Review Act” petition that would force the United States House of Representatives to vote on overturning the Federal Communications Commission repeal of the 2015 open internet rules. The Senate voted in favor of putting the rules back in place in May, a month before the repeal took effect. But in the House, Republican Speaker Paul Ryan refused to place the net neutrality issue on the floor for a vote. The Congressional Review Act requires that a majority of House members signed what, in effect, is a petition demanding a vote of the entire House, whether the speaker wants one or not. With 218 signatures needed to approve the petition and force the vote, House Democrats have so far gathered 177—including just one Republican, Mike Coffman of Colorado.  “It’s time for House reps to get off their butts and take concrete action to save the open internet,” Josh Tabish of Fight for the Future—the group behind the “Day of Action”—told the Daily Dot news site. “Passing the CRA before the end of this session is Congress’ last best chance to restore net neutrality.” The deadline for assembling the final 41 signatures stands at December 10. But the task might be difficult with Republicans maintaining a 43-seat majority in the House during the current “lame duck” session—and, according to Fight for the Future, 16 Democrats oppose the measure. Those 16 include Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema, who will leave the House January 1 after being elected to the Senate in the midterm elections. To get the CRA petition approved during the current session of Congress would require all 193 Democrats to sign, joined by 12 Republicans. As part of the November 29 protest, individuals are being encouraged to upload pictures of themselves wearing an “I Support Net Neutrality” badge, to bombard “lawmakers’ social media feeds with pictures, so if they decide to vote against the open internet we will make them look us in the eye as they do it,” Tabish said. Photo by Slowking / Wikimedia Commons