- The US Senate voted 52-47 on Wednesday to put the Federal Communications Commission's net-neutrality rules back in place.
- The Senate resolution would overturn a vote by the agency in December to scuttle its open-internet regulations.
- The resolution had drawn the support of half of all senators, including all Democrats; two additional Republicans backed it in the final vote.
- Despite the Senate's vote, the resolution faces a dubious future, as it would still need to pass the House of Representatives and be signed by President Donald Trump to become law.
The US Senate on Wednesday voted narrowly in favor of reinstating the Federal Communications Commission's net-neutrality rules, a surprising move that could lead to the reversal of one of the Trump administration's most controversial policies involving America's tech industry.
Three Republicans joined with all 47 Democrats and two Democratic-leaning senators to back the measure.
Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana, a Republican who voted in favor of the measure, said that for him the decision came down to whether he or anyone else should trust their local cable company, from which most Americans get their internet access.
"If you trust your cable company, you're going to support" the FCC's move in December to eliminate its net-neutrality rules, Kennedy said. "If you believe as I do, that I trust everybody, but I still believe in verification — it's like I said in my campaign — I believe love is the answer, but back in Louisiana, I still own a handgun just in case."
He added: "I just think there should be a free and open internet."
Supporters of net neutrality cheered the Senate's vote.
"This is a historic day in the fight for the future of the Internet," said Evan Greer, the deputy director of Fight for the Future, an internet activist organization that had been pushing for the resolution.
The Senate's vote showed that "the voices of the American people were heard," said Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois.
—Tammy Duckworth (@SenDuckworth) May 16, 2018
Though the vote on the measure had been expected for months, its outcome had been uncertain. Fifty senators had declared their support for the resolution — one shy of the majority needed to pass it.
In the end, 47 senators — all Republicans — voted against it. Sen. John McCain, who has been receiving treatment for a brain tumor, did not vote.
Republican opponents blamed the vote on 'politics'
Sen. John Thune, a South Dakota Republican who led the effort against the resolution, decried its passage.
Thune has called on Congress to pass legislation that would enshrine at least some version of net neutrality into law. He said the passage of the resolution would encourage Democrats to hold off on coming to the table to negotiate over such a bill.
"This vote was about politics, not protecting net neutrality," he said.
Though few Republicans joined the Democrats to pass the measure, and Thune and other Republicans opposing it tried to paint the debate in partisan terms, net neutrality in general — and the FCC's net-neutrality rules in particular — enjoy widespread, bipartisan support outside the Beltway. A poll last month found that 86% of the public, including 82% of Republicans, supported leaving the rules in place.
Earlier Wednesday, the measure overcame a procedural hurdle that portended its eventual outcome. Three Republicans — Kennedy, Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who all eventually voted in favor of the resolution — joined their colleagues across the aisle to pass a motion to proceed with a final vote.
Senate Democrats cheered the procedural vote. In a tweet, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota called it an "amazing victory for consumers, small businesses and rural communities."
—Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) May 16, 2018
