Net Neutrality Ended 1 Year Ago, Pressure Mounts on Senate to Act

The Federal Communications Commission officially stripped its own net neutrality regulations off the books one year ago today, June 11, 2018. Now, one year later, tech companies and internet civil liberties advocates are trying to ratchet up the pressure on Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to hold a vote in net neutrality—something McConnell has vowed that he will not do. In April, the Democratically controlled House passed the Save the Internet Act, a landmark bill that for the first time would enshrine net neutrality—essentially, the principle that online service providers may not favor or discriminate against internet traffic from certain sites as compared to others—into federal law.  The bill simply took the Obama-era FCC net neutrality guarantees from 2015 and reinstated them—in a way that the FCC could not unilaterally repeal, as the current commission chaired by Donald Trump appointee Ajit Pai did last year. But before the bill had been put up for a vote in the House, McConnell told the Democrats there that they were wasting their time—that the Save the Internet Act would be “dead on arrival” in the Senate, in which Republicans hold a majority, and where McConnell alone decides which bills may come to the Senate floor for a debate and eventual vote. True to his word, McConnell has simply ignored the net neutrality-restoring legislation which sits dormant almost two months after passing the House on a largely party-line vote, in which only a single Republican supported the bill. On Tuesday, a letter from 160 tech startups landed on McConnell’s desk, demanding that he allow a vote on the Save the Internet bill. The letter was signed by popular online companies including Twitter, Reddit, Medium, Etsy, Patreon and Vimeo. Also on Tuesday, about 100 advocacy groups fired off a similar letter to McConnell, saying, “In the year since the FCC took away the 2015 ​Open Internet Order​, we have seen some very troubling and dangerous activities by big cable and telephone companies. While advocates seek redress in court to overturn the FCC's disastrous repeal, Senate passage of the ​Save the Internet Act ​will reaffirm Congress's intent and support for broadband users' rights." In the Senate itself, Massachusetts Democrat Ed Markey gave a speech on the floor accusing McConnell and Republicans of “trying to bury this bill in a legislative graveyard” and—along with fellow Democrats Ron Wyden of Oregon and Maria Cantwell of Washington—attempted to force a vote on the Save the Internet Act, according to a report by The Verge. But Mississippi Republican Roger Wicker objected to the Democrats’ motion, killing the possibility of a vote. In May of 2018, Markey led a successful effort to force a Senate vote on a non-binding resolution to block the repeal of net neutrality. The resolution passed by a 52-47 margin, with three Republicans voting to support restoration of net neutrality. Photo By Calimaq S.I.Lex / Wikimedia Commons