Republicans are trying to transform the Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality rules into the same sort of drawn-out controversy as Benghazi and Obamacare — providing a new springboard for sustained political attacks on the White House.

GOP lawmakers have floated the theory that the Obama administration secretly directed the FCC to adopt heavy-handed government regulation of the Internet, hijacking the deliberations of the independent agency. They’ve scoured FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s emails for damaging revelations and dragged him to the Capitol for a slew of confrontational hearings.


The all-out political offensive aims to chip away at one of Democrats’ most significant tech policy achievements of late. And while Republicans for now have little chance of undoing the FCC’s actions — and haven’t yet produced any bombshells on White House misdeeds — they seem intent on widening their probe.

“We’re simply trying to figure out the facts,” Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), the leader of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said in an interview. After grilling Wheeler at a hearing this week, Chaffetz said he “left feeling as if the White House was more manipulative of this process than ever,” adding his panel isn’t finished asking the FCC to turn over records.

Wheeler’s net neutrality order, approved on 3-2 party line FCC vote last month, treats Internet service providers like a public utility to ensure they don’t slow or block Web traffic or charge companies for faster delivery of their content. The cable and broadband industries have long opposed such a framework as harmful to investment, and telecom giants like AT&T have signaled they soon could take part in a legal challenge.

Republicans have called Wheeler’s approach a dangerous expansion of the government’s powers — and the party has dialed up its opposition this month. Three committees have questioned the FCC chairman this week, and he still has to weather two more hearings in the coming days, including an appearance before the agency’s House appropriators.

Chaffetz on Tuesday repeatedly suggested that Wheeler bowed to White House pressure on net neutrality. The congressman accused the FCC chairman of shifting toward tougher rules in line with Obama’s endorsement of utility-style broadband. And Chaffetz cited a series of meetings between Wheeler and top White House aides last year — some of which had not been disclosed in official commission filings — to make the case that the FCC hadn’t been sufficiently open about the administration’s role in the proceeding.

For his part, Wheeler insisted during the hearing there were “no secret instructions” from the White House, stressing he came to his own conclusions. And he said many of his previous meetings with administration officials didn’t involve net neutrality — and when they did, the commission had been transparent about it.

Asked about the allegations, a White House official pointed to Wheeler’s testimony, adding the Obama administration “respected the FCC’s independence throughout the process.”

The prosecutorial tone of the hearing still seemed reminiscent of the Oversight panel’s investigations of the HealthCare.gov meltdown; the attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya; and Hillary Clinton’s private email use as secretary of state. At one point, Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) lamented during the FCC hearing that it felt like a “Watergate type of deal,” as GOP pols pressed Wheeler for “what did you know and when did you know it.”

The course of the net neutrality investigation left other Democrats seething this week.

“I think it’s a very poor strategy, and it’s not attractive conduct,” said Rep. Anna Eshoo, who leads her party on the House telecom subcommittee. Citing the 4 million public comments that flooded the FCC on net neutrality, she added: “Instead of celebrating that, or being interested in it, [Republicans] are pulling out the biggest guns to steamroll and cut up the agency’s budget.”

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Many prominent national GOP pols — including its 2016 hopefuls — also have seized on the net neutrality fight. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) slammed Wheeler’s rules at the recent SXSW conference in Austin. Back in Washington, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) — who once memorably described net neutrality as Obamacare for the Internet — chastised the FCC chief at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing Wednesday for pursing Internet regulations that are “contrary to law.” And Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) penned an op-ed in POLITICO Tuesday charging the FCC’s rules would give an “extraordinary amount of power over the Internet … to an unelected, unaccountable board that every lobbyist, lawyer and crony capitalist with a vested interest in the Internet will seek to manipulate.”

As the barrage of hearings continues, other Republican lawmakers are considering a legislative response: Some members have floated bills that would negate the FCC’s net neutrality order or install weaker rules while limiting the agency’s regulation of broadband. But the proposals have failed to win Democratic support, and they’re virtually guaranteed to earn a presidential veto if they ever get to Obama’s desk.

“The Republicans have a coordinated approach opposed to net neutrality, and they don’t like our president, so they’re trying to wrap that into it,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), who sits on the Judiciary Committee, which is holding its own FCC hearing next week. “I’d say the chances of actually successfully pursuing a legislative effort to overturn what the FCC has done, I just don’t think it’s credible. It’s just shouting into the wind.”