The House voted 240-179 largely along party lines to approve that would roll back the FCC regulations. Two Republicans voted against the measure, while six Democrats voted for it.

The FCC's rules would prohibit wired broadband providers from selectively slowing or blocking Web content and applications.

Republicans argued the net neutrality rules aren't needed and would open the door to heavy-handed government regulation of the Internet. "Congress has not authorized the Federal Communications Commission to regulate the Internet," said Representative Greg Walden, an Oregon Republican and main sponsor of the bill. "If not challenged, the FCC's power grab would allow it to regulate any interstate communications service on barely more than a whim and without any additional input from Congress."

President Barack Obama has threatened to veto the legislation, should it pass through the Democratic-controlled Senate. The FCC, in crafting net neutrality rules, sought input from groups on "all sides" of the issue, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said in a position statement this week.

"The Federal Communications Commission's rule reflected a constructive effort to build a consensus around what safeguards and protections were reasonable and necessary to ensure that the Internet continues to attract investment and to spur innovation," the OMB said this week. "Disapproval of the rule would threaten those values and raise questions as to whether innovation on the Internet will be allowed to flourish, consumers will be protected from abuses, and the democratic spirit of the Internet will remain intact."