The Latest Net Neutrality Head Count in the House

Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA) became the latest lawmaker to come out in favor of the discharge petition to bring net neutrality to a vote on to the House floor. The latest pledge comes just a few days after the formal deadline to file the discharge petition elapsed. But Fight for the Future Deputy Director Evan Greer, whose group is rallying support to restore net neutrality, said that “now that the session has been extended by two weeks there are theoretically ways that House rules could be used to still force a vote with a majority signed on to the discharge petition.” Even so, the petition at the moment remains well short of the 218 backers needed to bring the issue to a vote in the current session. Without including Rep Scanlon, 180 Democrats have signed onto the petition so far, with Reps. Susan Wild (D-PA) and Frederica Wilson (D-FL) formally joining the ranks. Scanlon’s announcement came amid public pressure from consumer groups and a day after a GQ report — titled “Corporate-Friendly Democrats Are Standing in the Way of Reviving Net Neutrality” — highlighted campaign contributions she received from telecom giant Comcast.