Senate votes to sustain FCC’s net-neutrality rule

The Senate on Thursday afternoon voted down a resolution on party lines that would have killed a pending Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rule to prevent Internet service providers from picking and choosing data and data speeds they accommodate on their networks.

Republicans, who voted unanimously for the resolution, argued that the FCC’s rule, which is set to activate on Nov. 20, was just another example of “job-killing regulation.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), for example, said the rule represents an “overreach” of the federal government in an attempt to “fix the Internet, when the Internet is not broken.”

“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 McConnell. “[W]e should think long and hard before we allow unelected bureaucrats to tinker with it now.”

But Democrats who supported the regulations argued that if the FCC does not act quickly, communications companies could decide to ban or slow certain data from their networks’ infrastructure, resulting in discrimination. 

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) also argued that the administrations' rules were both gentle and fair. 

“This takes a light-touch approach and keeps the playing field free, they [the rules] keep the Internet open and fee for consumers … and for everyone in this country who want access to broadband Internet,” said Rockefeller.  

The resolution, which almost certainly would have been vetoed by President Obama, failed 46-52.