Net neutrality, which is a top priority of Internet advocates who backed President Obama during his presidential race, it has found resistance from leading House Republicans who opine that the move dissuade investment in broadband networks, thereby hurting the economy.

Opposing the proposal of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski, whereby Internet service providers would be required to keep their networks open to legal content and external devices, House Republican leaders wrote a letter to the President saying that net neutrality would "thwart further broadband investment and availability."

The Friday letter, signed by the House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Republican Whip Eric Cantor, R-Virginia, said: "To hastily begin the process of adopting network neutrality rules months before issuing such a broadband plan implies that politics are driving the FCC's decision-making process."

Noting that FCC's micro-management of broadband network would spell trouble for broadband investment, the leaders urged Obama to direct the FCC to first focus on proper assessment of broadband market and completion of a broadband plan, before pushing the net neutrality rules.

Meanwhile, the FCC, which would vote on the open Internet proposal this month, clarified that the net neutrality rule and the broadband plan are non-related issues, and that the open Internet regulation is essentially a step in the direction of creating a nondiscriminatory Internet.