What You Need To Know About Repealing The Repeal of Net Neutrality — How The CRA Works.

There is a great deal of excitement, but also a great deal of misunderstanding, about the effort to “repeal the repeal” of network neutrality using the Congressional Review Act (CRA). On the one hand, we have folks who are confused by the enormous progress made so far and think that we are just one vote shy of repealing the repeal. On the other extreme, we have the folks declaring the effort totally doomed and impossible from the start. I discuss the details of a CRA, and why I think we can win this (and even if we don’t, why it still works in our favor overall), below. 

Here are the big takeaways. First, while the momentum on the CRA has been incredibly strong, we still have a considerable way to go in terms of time and process. Sen Ed Markey (D-MA) and Rep Mike Doyle (D-PA) cannot even introduce the actual resolution of disapproval until the Federal Communications Commission repeal order is published in the Federal Register (which could happen any day now, but could also take awhile). After that, it will still be 20 legislative days before CRA supporters can force a vote in the Senate. Even assuming net neutrality supporters find another Republican vote in the Senate, we still need to move past the House and then generate enough political pressure that President Donald Trump feels compelled to sign it. Meanwhile, the clock for this particular maneuver will run out 60 legislative days after Federal Register publication — which probably means April and almost certainly no later than Memorial Day.