Senate Commerce marking up telecom bill, Net Neutrality amendment

As the Senate Commerce Committee marks up its giant Telecom Bill today, among the amendments the committee is likely to consider is the Internet Freedom Protection Act, an amendment to the bill offered by Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Byron Dorgan (D-ND). Eight Democrats, including Dorgan, have signed onto the amenedment, but it's viewed as facing an uphill battle in the committee controlled by Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), News.com reports.

A handful of mostly Democratic committee members, including Co-chairman Daniel Inouye, have pledged to continue to push for the additional rules requested by tech heavyweights like Google, Amazon.com, eBay and Microsoft. "Under the current language, network operators will have the ability to dictate what the Internet of the future will look like, what content it will include and how it will operate," Inouye, a Hawaii Democrat, said in a statement earlier this week.

After the big bill leaves the committee, it will go to the Senate floor for a vote, where additional amendments may be offered. After Senate passage, a House-Senate conference committee would finalize a final bill for the president to sign.