Harmful Telecom Bill Progresses, But Barely

The bad news: The critically flawed telecommunications bill, which cleared the U.S. House without net neutrality protections, gained passage in the Senate Commerce Committee this week. The good news: All Democrats on the committee voted for the Byron Dorgan/Olympia Snowe net neutrality amendment. It was defeated, but barely, on an 11-11 tie vote. The main telecom bill gained passage by a margin of 15-7 to move the bill out of committee. However, the word is it will have trouble on the Senate Floor and some of those who voted to move it out of committee have said they won't vote for it when and if the full Senate takes up the bill.

Matt Stoller at MyDD provides a detailed account of the wild discussion session on the bill and how Chairman Ted Stevens' erratic rants may have caused enough consternation to stop the bill's final passage on the Senate Floor. Stoller reports that Senators Dorgan (D-ND) and Kerry (D-MA) were magnificent speaking against the bill and for net neutrality, while countering the mad lobbying of the large mob of telecom lobbyists who flooded the hearing.

You  must read Stoller's account, gleaned from sources who were present, to get the full flavor of the dizzying levels to which the telecoms and their numerous lobbyists have gone to push passage of this bill. They got their wish in the Senate Commerce Committee, but their behavior and that of their Republican mouthpieces may well spell doom for the bill at the next level. For more on the status net neutrality, check out the article by Jonathan Rintels on FreePress.

Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) has announced he will attempt to achieve stoppage on the bill and lead a filibuster against it, if necessary, unless meaningful net neutrality provisions are added. It's clear that Kerry and Dorgan will join him and, according to Stoller, other Dem Senators are expected to follow suit. We would need 41 Senators to secure the filibuster. Sen. Kerry today released a statement about the bill on the website of Save the Internet, the massive coalition that is fighting to retain net neutrality.

Senator Ted Stevens (D-AK), Chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, has said that he won't bring the bill to the Senate floor unless he's sure of 60 votes in support. As things stand now, he doesn't have the 60 votes to overcome a filibuster. Stay tuned, and be sure to express your views on net neutrality to Senators Bingaman and Domenici. We still have a great chance to stop any bill that lacks net neutrality protections. Urge your Senator to stop passage of the telecom bill unless it's amended to provide meaningful guarantees of net neutrality.