Congress should overturn FCC decision on net neutrality

In a welcome development, fully half the U.S. Senate has rallied to protect equal access to the internet, working to override a Federal Communications Commission decision that will scrap protections for consumers.

This is a battle worth fighting, given how much of daily life now revolves around a vast digital landscape used for everything from ordering a pizza to hunting for jobs. Increasingly, small- and medium-sized businesses depend on their online presence to bolster sales. They need potential customers to be able to navigate their websites easily and quickly. Virtual medicine, grocery deliveries, dating services, student homework, research — all benefit from an internet that does not tie access to money.

It's good to see that both Minnesota's senior senator, Amy Klobuchar, and newly minted U.S. Sen. Tina Smith are among those supporting a Congressional Review Act to stop the FCC repeal and restore Obama-era protections the FCC tossed out. Klobuchar told an editorial writer on Wednesday that U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has joined the 49 Democrats and that more Republican support may be coming. "It's hard for me to believe the Republicans will be in lockstep on this one," Klobuchar said. "I know a lot of them are troubled by the [FCC] order. This is a real moment here, where we could overturn this."

There is ample reason for Republicans to be troubled. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai may contend that the new rule will spawn a "better, cheaper, faster internet," but many business leaders disagree. On Wednesday, leaders from social media giants Facebook, Twitter and YouTube testified before the Senate Commerce Committee on the need for an open internet. They are just the latest in a wave of corporate opposition to the FCC rule that includes Amazon, Microsoft, Netflix, Kickstarter, the National Small Business Association and others. They know — as average Americans soon will learn — that the decision will allow for fast and slow lanes online, with speed tied to a willingness to pay.

Meanwhile, attorneys general in 21 states — including Minnesota — have opened a second front, challenging the FCC decision in court and calling it an "arbitrary, capricious abuse of discretion" that violates federal law.

As esoteric as the concept of net neutrality is, the American public, faced with its loss, has come up to speed quickly. A recent survey by the University of Maryland shows that an overwhelming majority of Americans — 83 percent — including three out of four Republicans, opposes the plan to repeal the protections. It is disturbing to see some, like House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden of Oregon, so blithely accept a "pay to play" construct that will tilt the digital field further toward the moneyed and powerful. Walden recently defended paid prioritization, as it's sometimes called, as a fact of American life. "Where do you want to sit on an airplane?" he asked. "Where do you want to sit on Amtrak?"

But travel is not speech. No one is claiming every American has the right to a window seat on the train or to first-class flights. But the internet is used daily, by Americans in all walks of life — from the unemployed man searching on his library's computer for jobs to the startup business pitching its wares online.

The FCC should slow its roll on this one. Congress has a right — even an obligation — to review a ruling that has the potential to affect millions of Americans and the economy itself. There may be some adjustments necessary to strike the proper balance between Obama-era controls and the current administration's abhorrence of regulation, but the wholesale muscling through of the FCC decision was precipitous and needs revisiting.

This latest gambit is a legislative Hail Mary, but as the Vikings proved last weekend, sometimes miracles happen — and should.