Thanks to President Obama’s call to action on net neutrality, party members on both sides of Congress are falling into position and drawing up a partisan battleground over regulating the net.
Obama released a video and statement Monday urging the Federal Communications Commission to reclassify the internet as a public utility and put in place the “strongest possible rules” to regulate it.
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The president wants the FCC to outlaw companies from charging more for faster service, and from blocking any legal website content. Under his recommended proposal, the FCC would reclassify service providers like Comcast and Verizon under Title II of the Communications Act, and be granted new powers to dictate the terms of internet service.
Republicans are now positioning themselves as opponents of the proposal, while Democrats, even those who were previously lukewarm on the issue, are backing Obama.
Republicans argue that the internet has flourished so much largely because the government has stayed out of it, and that involving the FCC would inevitably slow the internet’s progress and hamper innovation.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) vowed to oppose net neutrality and “stop misguided schemes to regulate the Internet.”
Boehner described net neutrality as “a textbook example of the kind of Washington regulations that destroy innovation and entrepreneurship.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) concurred, saying, “The President’s decision today to abandon this successful approach in favor of more heavy-handed regulation that will stifle innovation and concentrate more power in the hands of Washington bureaucrats is a terrible idea.”
Other Republicans who have spoken out against net neutrality in the past few days include House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.)
Upton and Thune penned a joint letter to the FCC signed by forty-one members of the House and Senate commerce committees, which argues that reclassifying the internet is beyond the FCC’s authority.
They write that such a move “would threaten the jobs and investment made possible by the broadband industry.”
Sen. Ted Cruz was mocked by liberal writers and outlets for tweeting a comparison of net neutrality to Obamacare:
“Net Neutrality” is Obamacare for the Internet; the Internet should not operate at the speed of government.
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) November 10, 2014
Meanwhile Democrats like Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), and Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif) of the House Energy and Commerce Committee have all bulked up their pro-net neutrality stances.
The Hill notes that these Democrats had only tentatively endorsed net neutrality in the past, but have now fully backed the president’s proposal.
Some have already begun to anticipate this issue as the next “political football” for Congress, and a soon-to-be showdown between Republicans and the White House.
Although Obama doesn’t control the FCC, Republicans will now have to combat his push for reclassification and try to chip away at public support for strengthening regulations.
