Over 400 thousand dollars given to senators opposing net neutrality

Six Republican senators co-sponsoring an amendment to prevent the U.S. from passing new broadband rules received more than $400,000 in campaign and political contributions from AT&T, the telecommunications giant that has criticized the FCC’s new rules, as well as other large telecommunications and cable companies.

Campaign finance data collected by the Center for Responsive Politics shows that AT&T-affiliated entities gave about $67,300 to the campaign and political action committees of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Texas Republican and lead sponsor of an amendment to an unrelated Interior Department budget bill that would have prevented the F.C.C. spending money “to develop and implement new regulatory mandates.”