Senate Democrats Block Vote on Permanent Internet Tax Ban

We’ve been following the halting progress of the Internet Tax Moratorium. Earlier this week Members of the House were denied the opportunity to vote on a permanent extension, and instead overwhelmingly passed a four-year extension. While it seems likely that the Senate will soon pass this legislation, Senate advocates of a permanent moratorium continue to push for passage of the bill sponsored by Senator Sununu. Yesterday evening, Republican Leader McConnell tried to get unanimous consent for the Senate to vote on the permanent ban:

Mr. President, in just 13 days the Internet tax moratorium will expire. If Congress has not acted by then, State and local governments will be free to impose new taxes on Internet access–and trust me, they will…. The Internet has been at the heart of America’s economic growth over the past decade–all because Government has not gotten in the way. But those days are over if the people on the other side of the aisle in the Senate open the Internet to new taxes. We cannot let that happen. For the sake of our economy, for the sake of our competitiveness, for the sake of consumers who don’t want to see new taxes on their bills, we need to ban taxes on Internet access permanently.

Regrettably, Senator Landrieu (D-LA) objected to the request, blocking a vote on the Sununu legislation for the foreseeable future. It’s not just Senators McConnell and Sununu pressing for a vote, either. Senator Fred Thompson recently stated his strong support, and a number of Senate Republicans have pressed the Democratic majority for an up-or-down vote:

UPDATE: Please note the clarification we have posted at the request of Senator Landrieu (D-LA), regarding her position on internet taxation.

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