(Washington, D.C.) – Today, the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) expressed disappointment over the results of the Senate’s vote on Senate Joint Resolution 6, which failed by a vote of 46-52.  If approved, the resolution would have overturned the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) rules on Net Neutrality enforcement, which expose the Internet to unprecedented control by government.  The rules require providers to treat all web traffic equally, barring them from slowing access to services or sites that consume excessive bandwidth or are offered by rivals. 

The Congressional Review Act allows Congress an expedited way to prevent a federal agency from implementing a rule or regulation.  The resolution of disapproval could not be filibustered and required only a simple majority to be passed. 

“By failing to approve S.J. Res. 6, the Senate has missed a vital opportunity to take the lead on preserving the Internet’s openness,” said CAGW President Tom Schatz.  “It has instead chosen to allow government by fiat, wherein lawmakers are reduced to figureheads whose most significant contribution to Internet policy is to bicker on television.  The Internet is fast becoming the single most important tool used by Americans each day for commerce, communication, and leisure, but Congress has shirked from the responsibility of defending its freedom.”  

CCAGW has been an opponent of government-enforced net neutrality rules since 2005, but net neutrality opponents were not the only parties who stood up against the FCC’s rules.  Sen. Olympia J. Snow (R-Maine), a longtime advocate of net neutrality, explained in a November 7, 2011 letter to her Senate colleagues that “The FCC’s rules … appear to be a parceling together of fragmented provisions in the telecommunications statute, and … bring into question the FCC’s ability to effectively and legally develop a solid foundation for establishing network neutrality protections.”  Clearly, the rules’ opponents cannot be dismissed as mere ideologues.

“Net neutrality proponents have forced an unnecessary government intrusion into the free market in an attempt to solve a problem that does not exist,” added Schatz.  “The broadband industry is already a competitive market, and the FCC’s interference will only stifle Internet innovation, limit the dissemination of knowledge and ideas, and adversely affect economic growth,” he concluded     

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation’s largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.