DEMS/GOP/HOUSE OF REPS/NET NEUTRALITY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The U.S. Senate will vote on Wednesday [5-16-18] on whether to reverse a decision by the Trump administration to roll back Obama-era ‘net neutrality’ rules, Democratic senators said on Monday [5-14-18]. Advocates of keeping the 2015 open-internet rules have the backing of 50 U.S. senators, including Republican Susan Collins. And with the absence of Senator John McCain because of illness, they believe they will win on a 50-49 vote. The effort still faces an uphill battle – it is uncertain if the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives will even vote on the issue and the White House backs the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules approved last December. The FCC repealed rules set under President Barack Obama, a Democrat, that barred providers from blocking or slowing down access to content or charging consumers more for certain content. Those rules were intended to ensure a free and open internet, give consumers equal access to web content and bar broadband service providers from favoring their own material or others. The new rules require internet providers to tell consumers whether they will block or slow content or offer paid ‘fast lanes.'”
-David Shepardson, “Senate votes Wednesday on effort to reinstate ‘net neutrality’ rules,” Reuters, May 14, 2018 8:39 am