“Our goal is to preserve access to a free and open internet and to make certain that we’re continuing to see innovation in this space,” Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican who is chairman of the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

But while Democrats have objected to the FCC’s action, they have been skeptical of open-internet proposals from Republicans that would crimp the agency’s future ability to oversee broadband providers such as AT&T Inc. and Comcast Corp.