Chuck Schumer has a plan to push back against the FCC’s decision to roll back Obama-era protections for net neutrality, and it involves evoking a procedure that Senate Republicans have relied on several times this year to advance the Trump administration’s agenda. It’s called the Congressional Review Act (CRA), and it would trigger a vote on whether or not the Senate will override the FCC’s choice. Schumer hosted a press conference at WeWork, a New York co-working space, to explain how his strategy will work:
“One, this CRA doesn’t need the support of the majority leader. 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. It’s in our power to do that and that’s the beauty of the CRA rule. 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.”
Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts will be introducing the bill that will set the CRA in motion. “Our Republicans colleagues have a choice,” said Markey. “Be on the right side of history and stand with the American people who support net neutrality, or hold hands with big corporations who only want to increase their profits at the expense of consumers and our economy.”
While it’s true that the Democrats are going up against the majority on this issue, there are some Republicans who disagree with the decision to roll back net neutrality, and the CRA may end up being a bipartisan effort. Meanwhile, the Senate isn’t the only one taking a stand. There are lawsuits in the works, too, to force the FCC to cave and keep the internet free and open.
(Via The Hill)