The House Republicans pushing along legislation that would block new Internet regulation ran smack into a wall this week when President Obama threatened to veto the measure if it made it to his desk. On Tuesday, the GOP led-house approved the terms of debate for the measure that would block the so-called "net neutrality" rules approved by the Federal Communications Commission on a party-line vote late last year. The Housed is expected to pass on the measure on Thursday, but it's highly unlikely the Democrat-led Senate will take the measure up and the White House has made its opposition clear. The bill "would undermine a fundamental part of the nation's Internet and innovation strategy – an enforceable and effective policy for keeping the Internet free and open," the White House Office of Management and Budget said in a statement Monday. "Since the development of the Internet, federal policy has ensured that this medium is kept open and facilitates innovation and investment, protects consumer choice and enables free speech." "If the president is presented with a resolution of disapproval that would not safeguard the free and open Internet, his senior advisers would recommend that he veto the resolution,". The rules are intended to prohibit phone and cable companies from abusing their control over broadband connections to discriminate against rival content or services, or play favorites with Web traffic. But critics say it's a solution in search of a problem, and that the move could open the door for ever-expanding government dominion over the Internet.
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