Livestream starting right now: telecom funded lawmakers have introduced amendments that would eviscerate the Save the Internet Act at a key committee vote today
Like clockwork, Comcast-backed members of Congress on the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology have introduced a slew of terrible amendments that would completely gut the Save the Internet Act (HR 1644) and derail our best chance to restore the net neutrality protections that Ajit Pai’s FCC repealed in 2017.
The Save the Internet Act is the only real net neutrality bill in Congress. It’s less than 3 pages long, and it basically says “We Congress hereby tell Ajit Pai to shove it and restore the net neutrality protections he killed.”
Since the bill is so simple and easy to understand, telecom lobbyists have resorted to trying to kill it by punching it full of holes with bad amendments. Here’s a quick summary of what they’re trying:
Three of the amendments would completely replace the text of the Save the Internet Act with one of the free FAKE net neutrality bills introduced last month, essentially replacing a bill that restores net neutrality with one that destroys it.
* One amendment would kneecap the FCC’s ability to provide meaningful oversight of ISP price gouging and monopoly behavior (like throttling firefighters when they reach their data cap), leaving broadband customers vulnerable to getting screwed over more than we already are
* One amendment would attempt to create a carveout for “small ISPs,” which sounds nice on the surface, but it’s actually intended to undermine the overall protections in the bill and would mean that Internet users in rural areas don’t have the same protections as Internet users in big cities.
As of this morning, there are still four members of the subcommittee who have not said publicly where they stand on the bill or the push to gut it with amendments. Net neutrality affects every single Internet user, whether you’re a gamer, an activist, a business owner, or an educator. We have a real chance to restore the protections that never should have been taken away, but we need to keep the pressure on and make sure lawmakers know they can’t get away with telecom-sponsored shenanigans.
The stakes are high. If we can get this bill out of committee today without it getting gutted by amendments, we have a really good shot at passing it on the House floor. But if it gets scuttled by lobbyists’ sneak attack, we’re back to square one.