The Republican House voted on almost entirely partisan lines Friday to essentially gut the open internet order the FCC implemented last year to establish net neutrality. The bill passed 241-173, with just five Democrats voting with Republicans. That's good—it means that industry's efforts to split up Democrats have failed, and it means the bill will have a much tougher time in the Senate, and it will be harder for Republicans to get in as a rider in any upcoming appropriation bill. Fighting it is critical, because it would be disastrous for net neutrality.
The "No Rate Regulation of Broadband Internet Access Act" was ostensibly proposed to prevent the FCC from setting the rates charged by Internet providers. But the bill defines "rate regulation" so broadly that FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler says it could prevent the commission from enforcing net neutrality rules against blocking and throttling.
The FCC says it has no plans to impose strict utility rate regulation on Internet providers, but it can review whether specific rates are "unjust" or "unreasonable" under its authority to regulate common carriers. This bill would remove that authority and could also limit the FCC's authority to prevent ISPs from applying data caps in discriminatory ways.
The White House has issued a veto threat, but Republicans are still likely to try to find a way to get it into some kind of must-pass legislation. That's why it's encouraging that the Democrats held strong against it—a united front is going to make that effort much more difficult.
Meanwhile, the internet service providers who have been fighting an open internet celebrated this temporary win. You can bet they won't rest on this issue, fighting both in Congress and in the courts. But years of grassroots work has paid off, in getting a president, an FCC, and congressional Democrats all on the page of keeping the internet open.