Schumer Says “There will be a vote” To Reinstate Net Neutrality That FCC Repealed

US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said as the minority leader he will force a vote  to reinstate the FCC Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality rules that were repealed last week by Trump administration. Legislation to reinstate the repeal “doesn’t need the support of the majority leader,” Schumer said during a press conference Friday, according to The Hill. “We can bring it to the floor and force a vote. So, there will be a vote to repeal the rule that the FCC passed.” Just a simple majority needed for The Federal Communications Commission voted to repeal  to be back to what it was. The repeal will take effect 60 days after it is published in the Federal Register. But Congress still can overturn agency actions and the new rules by invoking the Congressional Review Act (CRA), like it did earlier this year to eliminate consumer privacy protections policy that was also another controvertial move from trump admin in tech industry and Internet.

A successful vote invalidate the FCC’s net neutrality repeal and may be even able to prevent the FCC from issuing a similar repeal in the future. This would force the FCC to maintain the rules and the related classification of ISPs as common carriers under Title II of the Communications Act. A CRA vote lets Congress “undo regulations with a simple majority,” without the possibility of a filibuster, as the WP Washington Post story said in February. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) announced a plan to file the CRA resolution last week. “It’s in our power to do that and that’s the beauty of the CRA rule,” Schumer said. “Sometimes we don’t like them, when they used it to repeal some of the pro-environmental regulations, but now we can use the CRA to our benefit, and we intend to.” 

The Senate’s Republican majority will be just 51-49 after Alabama Democrat Doug Jones is sworn in. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) opposed the net neutrality repeal, raising the prospect of a razor-thin vote.

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Mohsen Daemi
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