House votes to stop FCC funding for network neutrality

House Republicans voted to prohibit the Federal Communications Commission from using funds to carry out network neutrality regulations created last December.

The vote was on an amendment to the continuing resolution introduced earlier this week by Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR). Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and John Ensign (R-NV) on Feb 16 introduced a similar amendment aimed to knock down the FCC's rules that prohibit Internet service providers from blocking or arbitrarily slowing traffic on their networks. Analysts question whether this amendment, along with other GOP defunding measures, can survive the legislative process. The vote was 244 to 181. Fourteen lawmakers -- four Republicans and 10 Democrats -- did not vote along party lines when the House approved the amendment. Many of the Democrats come from conservative areas. The Republicans notably included Rep. Jerry Lewis (CA), former chairman of the Appropriations Committee.