Senators Ask House Speaker Paul Ryan to Schedule Vote Against Repeal of Net Neutrality

Senators are still hoping to reverse the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to revoke net neutrality by asking Speaker Paul Ryan to call for a U.S. House vote on the matter.

According to reports, 47 Democratic and two independent senators collectively wrote to Ryan on Thursday to “urge” him to schedule a vote in the lower house on the joint resolution S.J.Res.52. The said resolution was introduced on Feb. 27 and the Senate has voted in its favor — 52-47, including Republican Senators, Sens. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and John Kennedy — on May 16. Since then, the filing has been held in the lower house.

If the U.S. House will not vote on the matter, FCC’s December 2017 decision will be in full effect on Monday, June 11.

"The rules that this resolution would restore were enacted by the FCC in 2015 to prevent broadband providers from blocking, slowing down, prioritizing, or otherwise unfairly discriminating against Internet traffic that flows across their networks," the Senators explained in their letter to Ryan.

The Senators further argued, "Without these protections, broadband providers can decide what content gets through to consumers at what speeds and could use this power to discriminate against their competitors or other content."

To block FCC’s decision to junk the 2015 net neutrality policy, the S.J.Res.52 resolution should first be passed by the House and then be approved by President Donald Trump with the very little time that remains.

In December 2017, the Ajit Pai-led FCC voted to repeal the 2015 Open Internet policy — commonly referred to as the United States’ rules on net neutrality — which basically ensures broadband service providers give fair internet access to the consumers.

Meanwhile, last month, several Democratic congressmen also called out Pai for allegedly refusing to answer their inquiries on several policies and plans of the FCC, including the sudden vote against net neutrality.