47 Democrats cave on net neutrality after GOP calls bill “dead on arrival”

Enlarge / Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., participates in the House Financial Services Committee meeting on Thursday, Feb. 2, 2017. (credit: Getty Images | Bill Clark)

Forty-seven Democratic members of Congress are calling for a net neutrality compromise with Republicans, who have refused to support a full restoration of the net neutrality rules repealed by the Ajit Pai-led Federal Communications Commission.

The Democratic-majority US House of Representatives voted in April to pass the Save the Internet Act, which would restore the Obama-era FCC’s net neutrality rules. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) declared the bill “dead on arrival” in the Republican-majority Senate.

Republican lawmakers say they’ll only accept a net neutrality law that isn’t as strict—even though large majorities of both Democratic and Republican voters support the FCC’s old net neutrality rules. On Wednesday, dozens of Democrats asked their party leadership to compromise with the GOP leadership.