House Debate Set on Net Neutrality — Vote for Markey
House Debate Set on Net Neutrality — Vote for Markey
House Debate Set on Net Neutrality — Vote for Markey

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    For those of not steeped in the aracana of the House of Representatives (for which you should be grateful), here's the setup for the debate on Net Neutrality.

    Last night, the Rules Committee met and determined which amendments would go to the House floor. There are eight. You can read them here

    For our purposes, the big one is No. 7, the Markey etc. amendment which establishes a real Net Neutrality policy. This is the vote on Net Neutrality. As we said, urge your members of Congress to vote for the Markey amendment.

    No. 6, from Rep. Lamar Smith, also has its intrigues. It allows the Judiciary Committee to retain jurisdiction over the issue and vaguely keeps Net Neutrality as an issue under antitrust law. The Markey amendment has similar language, but this one comes from the committee of jurisdiction. The House leadership, and/or the phone and cable companies, may try to pitch the Smith amendment was an alternative to Markey. That's not so. A Representative could vote for both, but the only vote that really counts for Net Neutrality is the one for Markey.

    The timing is that the House will vote on the Rule for debate today. That simply ratifies what the Rules Committee has done in making amendments in order. At this point, we don't see any controversy there.

    The amendments and the bill itself at this point are scheduled for the floor tomorrow.