Dems renew fight over net neutrality

Democrats are reviving the battle over net neutrality with a new bill that would restore the Obama-era regulations on the broadband industry.

Congressional Democratic leaders introduced the Save the Internet Act with a show of force on Wednesday emphasizing the popularity of the rules and calling on Republicans to back the legislation.

“Supporting this bill means supporting our democracy, ensuring that the voices of the public are heard, their will is respected and the internet remains free and open to all,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said at a press conference Wednesday alongside top Senate and House Democrats as well as net neutrality activists.

What it does: The three-page bill would merely codify the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) 2015 Open Internet Order into law, prohibiting internet service providers from blocking, throttling or prioritizing certain web traffic.

Those rules were hugely popular among voters of both parties. Polls have found approval for the rules as high as 83 percent. And during the FCC’s months-long process of repealing the rules in 2017, an unprecedented 24 million comments were submitted to the agency.