Congress has been talking about Net Neutrality a lot for the last two weeks. Between FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler announcing his plans for Title II and Congressman Thune announcing his hearing, the bills have been going forward.
Beneath all of this was the Republicans' bill attempting to establish Net Neutrality on their terms. Before now, we've only heard of the Internet Association's semi-praise for the bill and a Democratic disagreement regarding its content. However, after a lot of deliberation, the text was finally released to the public.
TechCrunch released the bill's full text on Friday, showing that the bill limits the FCC's ability to control Net Neutrality in any way, but also gives the agency the ability to enforce the rules as they see fit. The bill eliminates Title II and bans the FCC from expressing its authority in any way regarding Section 706.
However, the bill is extremely one-sided. TechCrunch summarizes the bill's results as "net neutrality, except when the government or a private corporation deems the moment more important than the rules," stating that leaving the rules of Net Neutrality in the hands of Congress means that the issue would evolve into a partisan one. The two parties would clash over how to express it and what is necessary, instead of allowing a select group to do the research to determine if something is a helpful practice.
It's no surprise then, that after reading the bill, Sen. Al Franken tweeted out "Congressional Republicans are expected to file a watered-down bill that's exactly what the opposition and their lobbyists want." And he was exactly right.
It's uncertain if this bill will go through before the FCC's Feb. 26 vote regarding Title II. The Republicans' control of the Senate and House makes it likely that Congress will pass this bill before the 26th. If it somehow doesn't, then the FCC may have the chance to gain total control over Net Neutrality.
