Some House Democrats questioned why lawmakers were devoting time to the net neutrality issue when the U.S. government faces a shutdown Saturday if Republicans and Democrats can't come to agreement on the federal budget. Democrats also argued the bill would allow broadband providers to block any Web traffic.

"At such a moment of grave threat to our economic health, what are we doing on the floor today?" said Representative Henry Waxman, a California Democrat. "The Republican leadership insists on bringing to the floor a bill that will end the Internet as we know it and threaten the jobs, investment and prosperity the Internet has brought to America. This is an outrageous sense of priorities and policies."

The FCC's net neutrality, or open Internet rules, have widespread support from consumer groups and Web-based companies, said Representative Anna Eshoo, a California Democrat. AT&T and Comcast have opposed the bill, Democrats argued.

But the FCC's actions will hurt the Internet, one of the few bright spots in the U.S. economy, Republicans argued.

"We're here to put the brakes on runaway bureaucracy," said Representative Fred Upton, a Michigan Republican. "The FCC has overstepped its authority and is attempting to seize control of one of the nation's technological success stories."