Why Rob Portman Voted Against Net Neutrality Protections

While the Senate voted to bring back “net neutrality” protections, Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) says he’s looking for another option. He’s considering supporting an alternative offered by Sen. John Thune (R-SD). 

“(Take) the blocking, so-called throttling, the paid prioritization of internet traffic, that sort of stuff and put it into legislation,” Sen. Portman says. “I talked to Sen. Thune about it in the past few weeks and he committed to me that he was going to move that legislation. He thinks we can be bipartisan.” Sen. Portman says he wants the solution to protect consumers and provide certainty for innovators. “In the meantime, I don’t believe people will see any difference in terms of their internet, but I do think it will be good for investment in the internet and for consumers to get legislation in place,” he said.