Steve Kovach January 16, 2018 at 07:08AM
- Democrats are pushing a vote to restore net neutrality protections the FCC ended in December.
- Democrats say they now have 50 votes in favor of their bill. One more "yes" vote will guarantee the bill passes.
- The House will also have to pass the bill, and President Trump will have to sign it. So there's still little chance this move will be successful in restoring net neutrality.
Democrats need just one more vote in the Senate to guarantee passage of a bill to restore the net neutrality rules killed by the FCC in December.
In a statement, Senate Democrats said the bill has support of all 49 Democratic senators. Susan Collins, a Republican senator from Maine, also supports the bill, setting the stage for a 50-50 tie vote that would have to be broken by Vice President Mike Pence. One more "yes" vote will guarantee the bill passes the Senate. It only needs a simple majority to pass.
But even if the Senate passes a bill to restore net neutrality, the House will have to pass it as well. And after that, President Trump will have to sign it. There's a slim chance that's going to happen. The net neutrality repeal was spearheaded by FCC chairman Ajit Pai, a Trump appointee.
Democrats are using a law called the Congressional Review Act that lets Congress vote on regulations implemented by government agencies like the FCC. Republicans have previously used the Congressional Review Act to repeal Obama-era regulations.
SEE ALSO: Net neutrality repeal will make Big Tech more powerful
Join the conversation about this story »
NOW WATCH: How Area 51 became the center of alien conspiracy theories
The Senate is one vote away from a symbolic victory on net neutrality from Business Insider: Steve Kovach
No comments:
Post a Comment