GOP has knives out for network neutrality

Republicans are trying to transform the Federal Communications Commission’s network 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 e-mails 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.