Blumenthal-Sponsored Resolution to Restore Net Neutrality Passes Thirty-Vote Threshold to Force a Senate Vote

[WASHINGTON, DC] – Today U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) joined U.S. Senator Edward J. Markey (D-MA) and Senate Democrats to announce forty Senate cosponsors of Markey’s Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution of disapproval to overturn the December FCC vote ending net neutrality. Under the Congressional Review Act, thirty votes are needed to force a Senate vote on the resolution. At a press conference in the Capitol, cosponsors made clear they will force a vote to restore the 2015 Open Internet Order.

“The FCC has proven itself a puppet of special interests,” Blumenthal said at the press conference. “There is nothing more anti-democratic or un-American than strangling freedom of communication. That’s what the FCC has done. And by running roughshod over established rules, the FCC has shown contempt for the rule of law- also fundamentally anti-democratic and un-American. The FCC’s action is doomed to fail, both in Congress and in the courts.”

Last month, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to repeal the 2015 Open Internet Order, which the D.C. Circuit Court upheld in 2016. The Open Internet Order prohibited internet service providers from blocking, slowing down, or discriminating against content online. Repealing the net neutrality rules could lead to higher prices for consumers, slower internet traffic, and even blocked websites. A recent poll showed that 83 percent of Americans do not approve of the FCC action to repeal net neutrality rules.

Video of Blumenthal’s remarks at the press conference is available for download here.

In addition to Blumenthal and Markey, U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Gary Peters (D-MI), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Jack Reed (D-RI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Tom Udall (D-NM), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Bob Casey (D-PA), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Patty Murray (D-WA), Tina Smith (D-MN), Jon Tester (D-MT), Angus King (I-ME) and Bill Nelson (D-FL) are cosponsoring the CRA resolution.