Democrats want to ‘save the Internet.’ They’ll need Republicans’ help.

Democrats in Congress say they want to “save the Internet” with a net neutrality law. But they will need Republicans’ help to do it. The bills introduced in the House and Senate this week, unfortunately, are unlikely to inspire any cooperation. The bills introduced this week miss the mark. They bring back Title II. Democratic bills would make permanent limitations on rate-setting and other regulatory practices that have alarmed providers, but the classification is still toxic — and outdated. Lawmakers would do better to focus on the three bright-line prohibitions on which most parties have come to agree. Those are bans on blocking websites and services, as well as slowing them down or speeding them up to favor a company’s own content or in exchange for payment. Any rules should otherwise allow providers to manage congestion on their networks as long as they make those management practices transparent to consumers. Congress should also give the FCC meaningful enforcement authority against harmful and anti-competitive practices along with the ability to write future rules to enforce net neutrality. Lawmakers could call this whatever title number they please — as long as it’s not II.