House passes bill undoing Obama internet privacy rule

House votes to kill Obama internet privacy rule https://t.co/xRf8GlWivo pic.twitter.com/SitbGwU4v0

— The Hill (@thehill) March 29, 2017

The bill passed 215 to 205, with 15 Republicans joining 190 Democrats voting against it.

The FCC rules would have given consumers greater control over what their internet service provider can do with their data by requiring those companies to get permission from customers before using their information to create targeted advertisements.

The rules had not yet gone into effect....

The opposition to the regulations was led by Republicans and the telecom industry, who argue that they are too costly and confusing. They say the rules would have subjected internet service providers to restrictions that do not apply to websites like Facebook and Google, which also collect consumer information for data-driven ads....

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, a Republican who opposed the rules as a minority commissioner in October, applauded the vote in a statement, saying that he will work to impose a technology-neutral privacy regime.

“Moving forward, I want the American people to know that the FCC will work with the FTC to ensure that consumers’ online privacy is protected though a consistent and comprehensive framework," Pai said.

"In my view, the best way to achieve that result would be to return jurisdiction over broadband providers’ privacy practices to the FTC, with its decades of experience and expertise in this area.”

Democrats and activists waged a furious campaign against the bill, trying to peg Republicans as anti-privacy....

MEANWHILE:

TWITTER Censors Search Terms? https://t.co/F4VgabcBGD

— DRUDGE REPORT (@DRUDGE_REPORT) March 28, 2017

FACEBOOK vows to tackle blasphemous content... https://t.co/W5wjztyxrh

— DRUDGE REPORT (@DRUDGE_REPORT) March 28, 2017

Union leaders wrote a letter to Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, warning of “nightmare scenarios” for millions of union workers' health plans if Obamacare is not changed. “Congress wrote this law; we voted for you,” they wrote. “We have a problem; you need to fix it.”

◼ Health and Human Services quietly giving unions Obamacare fix - Susan Crabtree/Washington Examiner

he Obama administration has found a way to give unions relief from an Obamacare tax nearly three weeks after Republicans rejected a Democratic push to include the labor carve-out in the latest budget deal.

The Department of Health and Human Services quietly released a final rule last week that includes an intention to exempt some union insurance plans from a substantial new tax known as the reinsurance fee.

As part of Obamacare, the tax was supposed to be levied against all insurance plans to share the risk for insurers taking on the sickest patients next year.

...“It's outrageous that the Obama administration is ignoring the plain language of the law he insisted on to deliver another bailout to the union bosses,” said Fred Wszolek, spokesman of the Workforce Fairness Institute. “Either follow the law and tax every insurance plan, or repeal the whole thing, but there's no legal basis for another expensive favor for big labor.”

The reinsurance fee is $63 per person covered by an insurance plan per year, and is expected to raise $25 billion over three years. Exempting unions in 2015 and 2016 from the tax would protect their plans from taking a major hit, although they would have to pay it in 2014, when the tax will be the greatest during the first year Obamacare is in effect.

HHS didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.