The Senate rejected a bid to overturn the Federal
Communications Commission's controversial net neutrality rules on Thursday in a
party-line vote.
The measure passed the House in April, but failed in the
Senate on a vote of 52 to 46. It needed 51 votes to pass and was not subject to
a filibuster. The White House threatened earlier this week to veto the measure
if it cleared the Senate, which came as no surprise since President Obama made
net neutrality part of his campaign platform.
The rules approved by the Commission in
December would prevent Internet service providers from discriminating between
two similar websites or content providers.
“Without net neutrality,
Americans’ access to the Internet would hinge not on our right to free speech
but on the whims of the corporations that would control it," said ACLU
legislative counsel Christopher Calabrese.
Republicans argued the FCC overstepped
its legal authority in passing what they labeled a "job-killing" regulation.
“While we all understand the importance
of an open Internet, I think we can also agree that the growth of the Internet
in the last 15 years is an American success story that occurred absent any
heavy-handed regulation by the federal regulators in Washington,” said Senate
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
“[W]e should think long and hard before
we allow unelected bureaucrats to tinker with it now.”
Supporters contend the FCC took a light-touch approach that
will ensure the Internet remains a level playing field. Some proponents called
for the same rules to apply to wireless broadband, which is currently exempted,
though wireless carriers are banned from blocking lawful websites or
applications that compete with their services.
"Despite the cloak of anti-government
rhetoric of the legislation's opponents, the reality is that a defeat of the
resolution would have given control over to Big Telecom companies for their
benefit on an Internet manipulated for their benefit," said Public Knowledge
president Gigi Sohn.
An FCC spokesman hailed the vote
as "a win for consumers and businesses," adding that the FCC's "open Internet
framework" has brought certainty and predictability across the broadband
economy.
"Any effort to disrupt or unsettle that certainty, which
has been widely supported by industry, will only undermine innovation and
investment in this space," the FCC spokesman said.
The rules are scheduled to go into effect on Nov. 20 but
face several lawsuits, including one filed by Verizon, that argue that the FCC
exceeded its authority in adopting the regulations. A federal court threw out
the FCC's previous attempt at enforcing net neutrality against Comcast last
year.
If a
court should rule against the Commission again chairman Julius Genachowski has
left open the option to re-classify broadband as a telecom service under Title
II of the Communications Act, which would increase the agency's ability to
regulate it.
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