• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, February 27, 2018

Lawmakers Tuesday officially introduced resolutions in the House and Senate to revoke the Federal Communications Commission's recent order repealing the Obama-era net neutrality rules.

The Senate measure, introduced by Senator Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts), has already garnered support from 50 senators, leaving the measure one vote short of approval. The House resolution, introduced by Representative Mike Doyle (D-Pennsylvania), is supported by 150 Congress members.

Last December, the FCC voted to repeal Obama-era rules that prohibited broadband carriers from blocking or throttling online traffic and from charging companies higher fees for prioritized delivery. The FCC published those rules last week, triggering a window of 60 working days during which Congress can revoke the agency's move.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said the prior regulations were "heavy handed." But net neutrality proponents counter that the rules are necessary to prevent broadband providers from engaging in censorship, and from harming competitors.

The FCC's decision is also facing a court challenge by 23 attorneys general, consumer groups and tech companies including Mozilla and Vimeo. 

In addition, state lawmakers in about half of the states are considering new legislation that would mandate net neutrality. Separately, governors in five states -- New York, New Jersey, Montana, Hawaii and Vermont -- have signed executive orders requiring state agencies to contract only with broadband providers that promise to follow net neutrality principles.