On the heels of the wildly unpopular FCC vote in favor of repealing net neutrality rules regulating broadband companies’ power over consumers’ use of the internet, a glimmer of hope may have just surfaced.
Senate Democrats have introduced a bill that has garnered 40 co-sponsors, enough to overturn a repeal of the regulations. In doing so, they have secured a procedural vote on the floor of the Senate.
Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) has declared that she will vote with Democrats to restore net neutrality. In the event that all 49 Democrats vote in favor of the resolution, Collins’ participation would mean that Democrats would only need one more Republican defection to overturn the FCC’s decision.
Given the decision’s extreme unpopularity in the United States – a staggering 83 percent of Americans support the Obama era net neutrality rules – there will be pressure for moderate Republicans to side with the Democrats.
Susan Collins tells me she plans to vote to restore net neutrality. If all Dems vote yes, Ds just need 1 more Republican to pass resolution overturning FCC.
— Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) January 9, 2018
That being said, even if the resolution by Democrats does pass the Senate, Trump would still have the opportunity to veto it. The odds of him going against his own FCC are slim, but given his glaring absence of any actual values and his undying need for adulation, it’s not entirely out of the question.
At the very least, the support for this resolution is a testament to the fact that Democrats are actually responding to the will of the American people, rather than their Republican counterparts shamelessly defying it.
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