Add Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to the list of Republican presidential candidates -- Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, for example -- trying to reverse the Federal Communications Commission's Title II order.
Paul has introduced a joint resolution of disapproval to nullify the FCC's Feb. 26 decision to reclassify Internet access as a common carrier service.
“This regulation by the FCC is a textbook example of Washington’s desire to regulate anything and everything and will do nothing more than wrap the Internet in red-tape. The Internet has successfully flourished without the heavy hand of government interference. Stated simply, I do not want to see the government regulating the Internet,” Sen. Paul said in proposing the resolution.
Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) introduced a similar resolution April 13 in the House.
If either resolution passed in both houses and was not vetoed by the president, it would invalidate the FCC's new network-neutrality order, which takes effect 60 days from April 13, the day it was published in the Federal Register. That is the same time frame legislators have to pass the resolution and get it signed by the president.
The resolution is a fast-track method of overturning federal agency regulations, but would almost certainly need a two-thirds supermajority to survive a veto by a president, who strongly backed that Title II order and its reclassification of Internet access as a Title II telecom service.
So, ultimately the resolution is more a statement of disapproval than a vehicle for overturning the rules.
