Net Neutrality. Senate Joint Resolution 6 would have nullified the “net neutrality” rules issued by the Federal Communications Commission in December 2010 and scheduled to become effective November 20, 2011. The new rules give the federal government more control over the Internet. “The FCC reversed its successful hands-off approach … by passing net neutrality rules where the FCC has essentially granted itself power over all forms of communication including the Internet,” warned Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), who spearheaded S. J. Res. 6. She added that the “regulations on broadband providers” in the net neutrality rules “establish the FCC as the Internet’s gatekeeper, a role for which government is not really suited when innovation could be stifled.”
Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) moved to proceed to the resolution, but the Senate rejected his resolution on November 10 by a vote of 46 to 52 — thereby thwarting the attempt to nullify the net neutrality rules (Roll Call 200). We have assigned pluses to the yeas because the federal government has no business serving as a gatekeeper for the Internet, and such a role could eventually threaten what has become an important public square for circulating ideas and information.
