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House Republicans prepare to vote down net neutrality

Molly Wood Mar 2, 2011
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House Republicans prepare to vote down net neutrality

Molly Wood Mar 2, 2011
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The United States House Energy Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, part of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, will approve the resolution. From there, some sort of effort to strike down the net neutrality rules will likely sail through the Republican-dominated House and move on to the Senate.

We hear from Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) in remarks he gave Sunday to the National Association of Religious Broadcasters. Boehner says the rules would hand over control of the Internet to the federal government.

But once it reaches the Senate, it will in all likelihood get killed by the Democrats who control that body. We talk to Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.), who says that stripping the FCC rules would hand over control of the Internet to service providers who could channel different sites at different speeds and give preferential treatment to the wealthiest.

And even if a few Democrats cross over and this effort passes in the Senate, President Obama would stamp a big veto on it. So then why do it? Tony Romm of Politico says it all comes down to politics. The Republicans are pushing a narrative of the Democrats being the party of big government. The GOP intends to fight net neutrality in the same way they’ve fought health care reform.

Also in the program, a new business out of New York wants to be the Netflix of fine art.

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