The 3-2 vote along partisan lines is a victory for Democrats, who have pushed for this type of regulation for the last two decades and say it’s necessary for consumer protection, fair competition and national security.

The rules, which prevent broadband providers from blocking and throttling consumers’ internet traffic, were repealed in 2017 during the Trump era. The order also reclassifies broadband as a telecom service, as the 2015 rules did, expanding the agency’s authority to regulate internet networks. An earlier version of the rules was struck down by a court in 2014.

"I think in a modern digital economy we should have a national net neutrality policy and make clear the nation’s expert on communications has the ability to act when it comes to broadband," FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said ahead of the vote. "In our post-pandemic world, we know that broadband is a necessity, not a luxury."

Democratic commissioners stressed that the plan is not an effort to regulate the prices that broadband providers charge consumers, which has been a source of telecom industry anxiety for years.

"It’s all just shifting sands," Brendan Carr, the senior GOP commissioner, said of Democrats’ net neutrality rationales. "All fall apart under casual scrutiny."

He blamed Democrats’ pursuit of the regulatory framework on 2014 pressure from then-President Barack Obama and said the issue has become "civic religion for activists on the left."