Senate Democrats filed a petition that would force a vote to overturn the FCC’s repeal of net neutrality regulations Wednesday.
What comes next is a Senate vote on a Congressional Review Act, which gives Congress the power to overturn regulatory decisions taken by federal agencies with a simple majority in both chambers. If the CRA passes in the Senate, it will still need to clear the House and receive President Donald Trump’s signature before it would overturn the FCC’s decision.
In December, the FCC voted to repeal net neutrality, a nickname for Obama-era regulations that require internet providers to treat all online traffic the same, without creating paid fast lanes or throttling content from some services.
Tech companies, like Mozilla, Reddit, and Etsy, posted Red Alert banners on their websites to show support for the CRA Wednesday.
Today Mozilla is joining ? RED ALERT for #NetNeutrality because you deserve to know what YOU stand to lose if the FCC repeal of net neutrality becomes the law of the land.
Life as we know it could change pretty quickly in a net neutrality-less world… pic.twitter.com/IzO4xyrunH
— Mozilla (@mozilla) May 9, 2018
“Right now, the innovation economy and the internet economy is seven percent of GDP,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) in remarks after co-filing the Senate petition. “This is so important to me, because in the state of Washington, it’s 13 percent of our economy. “So the stakes are high with over 13,000 internet companies and a quarter of a million jobs. So, we want an open internet, and one that does not have access to barriers.”
Listen to GeekWire’s interview with Cantwell, a vocal advocate for net neutrality, below.
