Obama broadband veto

The White House has said it will veto a Congressional broadband bill for undermining net neutrality rules.

H.R. 2666 – aka the No Rate Regulation of Broadband Internet Access Act – purports to put limits on the authority of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to regulate what ISPs can charge.

But critics have said that the language in the bill goes much further and effectively precludes the FCC from looking at any pricing at all (for example, charging for data beyond low data caps).

In an official statement [PDF], the White House said it "strongly opposed" the bill because it was "overly broad," would restrict the FCC's ability to act in consumers' interests, and "limit" its ability to adapt in a "dynamic, fast-changing online marketplace."

It concludes: "If the President were presented with H.R. 2666, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill." ®