In Washington today, U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan received a letter signed by 47 Senate Democrats and two independents calling on him to schedule a vote to keep Net Neutrality rules active.
Under Trump's FCC chief Ajit Pai, the Obama-era rules to help keep the internet free, fair, and equal will die next week.
Ryan's office would not respond to reporters, and referred questions on Net Neutrality to the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Oddly the Ajit Pai FCC doesn't want to chat with reporters about why it made up two DDOS attacks in a bizarre effort to downplay public opposition to one of the least popular tech policy decisions in FCC history. https://t.co/nAQaAjXa7C
— Karl Bode (@KarlBode) June 7, 2018
From Reuters:
The FCC repealed the net neutrality rules in December, and they formally expire on Monday. New regulations give providers power to speed up or slow down internet traffic based on how much customers pay, and those are due to go into effect after a review of new transparency requirements by the White House.
On May 16, the U.S. Senate voted 52 to 47 to overturn the FCC decision with three Republicans voting with 47 Democrats and two independents to reverse the Trump administration's action.
But to retain the net neutrality rules, the U.S. House must vote in line with the Senate, and President Donald Trump would also have to sign the measure.
A spokeswoman for the House committee Chairman Greg Walden, a Republican, said he had not dropped his opposition to the net neutrality rules.
Many Democrats say the issue will help motivate younger people to vote in the 2018 congressional elections, and polls show overwhelming public support for retaining the rules.
The FCC repealed the 2015 rules that barred internet service providers from blocking or slowing access to content or charging consumers more for certain content.
