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Top Republicans in Congress plan to introduce legislation that they say will ensure net neutrality protections for Internet users and will spur U.S. economic growth.

The proposal would create unambiguous rules prohibiting broadband providers from selectively blocking or throttling Web traffic, while avoiding a reclassification of broadband as a regulated public utility, said a Wednesday blog post at Reuters.com by Senator John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, and Representative Fred Upton, a Michigan Republican.

The bill would not allow broadband provides to charge a premium to prioritize content delivery, but it would create new rules without relying on reclassification of broadband under Title II of the Telecommunications Act.

Reclassification, under consideration by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, would be an ill-fitting tool, wrote Thune, chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, and Upton, chairman of the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee.

The Title II rules were conceived in the Franklin D. Roosevelt era for public utilities, they added. Policymakers, however, need updated tools written for the Internet age.

Several groups calling for strong net neutrality rules have asked the FCC to reclassify broadband as a public utility. Late last year, President Barack Obama also called for reclassification of broadband.

Suggesting the Telecom Act is stuck in the 1930s is ridiculous, said Matt Wood, policy director of Free Press, a digital rights group calling for reclassification. Its an insult to the bipartisan Congress that updated and future-proofed Title II when it passed the Telecom Act in 1996.

Preventing unreasonable discrimination against Internet users is not outdated, Wood said by email. If [the Republicans have] suddenly seen the light and realize that Internet users, businesses, and innovators need these protections, thats a big step forward for lawmakers whove been denying these truths for so long. But these principles are the same ones that Congress has already enshrined in Title II, and that the FCC still has available to it at the core of that law.

The FCC is scheduled to vote on new net neutrality rules in late February. Its unlikely that Congress could pass new legislation before then, but a later law could preempt FCC action. Republicans hold the majority in both the House and the Senate, but several lawmakers in the party have objected in the past to any new net neutrality rules.

Even as Thune and Uptons blog post was published, another Republican leader questioned whether new net neutrality rules are needed. Instead of new regulations, the U.S. government should look to antitrust law to enforce uncompetitive practices by broadband providers, said Representative Bob Goodlatte, a Virginia Republican and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

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Republican bill: Net neutrality protections without reclassifying broadband