Kennedy's Net Neutrality Evolution

During a hearing on the Federal Communications Commission's budget, Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-LA) called on the Senate to forge a new bill to enshrine net neutrality protections but appeared to back away from his earlier advocacy of the Obama-era open internet rules. Sen Kennedy once voted in favor of restoring those regulations, but he now sees “flaws” in that model. “I think we have more in common than we don’t,” he said. “We need to stop passing the buck and we need to pass a net neutrality bill.” But bipartisan consensus may prove elusive. All Senate Democrats except Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) back net neutrality legislation that cleared the House on partisan lines in April — and relies on the statutory approach Sen Kennedy now seems to reject.