U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) joined the entire U.S. Senate Democratic Caucus in sending a new letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan urging him to schedule a vote on the Senate CRA resolution to overturn the FCC decision to repeal the agency’s 2015 net neutrality rules.
Despite the resolution’s bipartisan passage in the Senate 21 days ago, Speaker Ryan has failed to bring the resolution to the House floor for a vote. The renewed push by Senate Democrats comes as the net neutrality rules are set to officially expire on Monday, June 11.
In the letter, Sens. Warner, Kaine, and the full Senate Democratic Caucus emphasized the critical need to restore net neutrality regulations in order to keep the internet a level playing field and ensure the choice of what content consumers experience online and the speeds at which they experience it stays in the hands of consumers. To this end, Senate Democrats note that Speaker Paul Ryan’s reluctance to schedule a vote comes at the cost of harming those who rely on a free and open internet such as small businesses, schools, rural Americans, and communities of color.
Last month, Sens. Warner and Kaine voted in favor of a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to undo the Trump Administration’s repeal of net neutralityrules. In February 2018, Sens. Warner and Kaine joined a group of Senate and House Democrats in introducing the CRA to overturn the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) partisan vote to repeal open internet rules. The Senate passed resolution is awaiting a final vote from the House of Representatives before it can be sent to the President’s desk.
The text of the letter can be found here.
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Chris Graham
