Two years after the Republican-led Federal Communications Commission voted to repeal the net neutrality rules put in place in 2015, Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey attempted to force a Senate vote on a bill that would put the rules back into place. But a single Republican objected, resulting in the failure of Markey’s bid.
In April, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives easily passed a bill titled the “Save the Internet Act,” which would have overturned the FCC repeal of the Obama-era net neutrality regulations. But Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has simply let the bill languish in the Senate, refusing to allow it to be debated in committee, or reach the floor for a vote.
Net neutrality, which prevents big internet service providers such as Verizon, Comcast or AT&T from blocking or slowing traffic from some sites while allowing others access to an online fast lane, “is just another way of saying non-discrimination,” Markey said. “Large companies can’t discrimination against smaller companies and consumers, can’t stifle speech.”
Markey on Tuesday called for a unanimous consent motion in the Senate which, if passed, would have forced a vote on the “Save The Internet” bill, despite McConnell’s determination to stifle it.
But because the vote to allow a vote was required to be unanimous, the objection of even a single senator was enough to kill Markey’s motion. That objection came from Mississippi Republican Roger Wicker, who chairs the Senate Commerce, Science and Transpiration Committee.
Wicker and Arizona Democrat Kyrsten Sinema—the lone Democratic opponent of net neutrality in the Senate—founded a “working group” to study the net neutrality issue. But critics say that the group, founded by two longtime net neutrality foes, exists merely as a delaying tactic to stall any forward movement on the legislation.
That appears to be exactly what happened on Tuesday. Wicker called for senators to join the “working group,” saying that the issue required further study before coming to a vote.
Markey was backed in his effort by Washington Senator Maria Cantwell, a former tech executive who late last month introduced a tough, new internet privacy bill.
Also joining Markey and Cantwell was Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden. It was Wyden who cast the lone Democratic Senate vote against the FOSTA/SESTA online “sex trafficking” bill last year.
“The failure to understand the technological side effects of this bill—specifically that it will become harder to expose sex-traffickers, while hamstringing innovation—will be something that this Congress will regret,” Wyden said during the debate on FOSTA/SESTA.
Photo By Senate Democrats / Wikimedia Commons
