A Republican Federal Communications Commission board member is blowing the whistle on his government agency's plan to adopt so-called net neutrality rules.

The FCC's chairman announced last week that he would not allow the public to review the Obama-supported regulations before the five-member board, made up of three Democrats and two Republicans, takes a vote on them later this month.

Republican commissioner Ajit Pai pushed back on the decision today by holding a press conference to disparage the FCC's 332 page 'secret plan' to take control of the Internet that he cautioned would bring about 'adverse consequences to the entire Internet economy.'

Republican FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai today pushed back on a the chairman of the FCC's decision today by holding a press conference to disparage a 332 page 'secret plan' that he cautioned would bring about 'adverse consequences to the entire Internet economy'

President Barack Obama jump started the debate on the controversial net neutrality policy in November by publicly calling on the independent federal regulatory agency to put new rules on internet companies that would stop them from creating fast lanes for certain content providers and slowing down the rate at which data from other sources reaches consumers.

'For almost a century, our law has recognized that companies who connect you to the world have special obligations not to exploit the monopoly they enjoy over access into and out of your home or business,' Obama said. 'It is common sense that the same philosophy should guide any service that is based on the transmission of information — whether a phone call or a packet of data.'

Democrats on the commission, with Obama's blessing, want to expand the 1934 Communications Act, updated in 1996, to include the internet by classifying it as a public utility.

A similar plan by the FCC was struck down by a federal court nearly a year ago. It put forward a new plan in May, but Obama argued that it wasn't strong enough and pushed in November for the FCC to adopt more stringent rules.

Internet steaming companies have mostly sided with Obama out of fear that service providers could one day begin charging customers higher rates to receive their content, while the internet providers that would come under new government scrutiny as a result of the measure have fought against it.

Republicans are also staunchly opposed to the move, which they equate to a power grab by the unelected group of bureaucrats.

The commissioners on the FCC are appointed by the sitting president for five-year terms and must be confirmed by the Senate. Typically, the president's party holds three seats on the commission while the minority party keeps two.

'This is not only a direct attack on the free market, but it will also result in an increase in Internet access fees for millions of consumers in America. It’s a massive tax on the middle class, plain and simple,' Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said Monday in an email for anti-net neutrality group Protect Internet Freedom.

'President Obama wants to take something that’s working just fine, and tie it up in red tape--sound familiar? We've seen this movie before--it's called ObamaCare,' Paul charged.

In another email sent by the group to potential supporters, Utah Sen. Mike Lee called the proposed rule a 'government takeover of the Internet' and contended that companies would pass the costs associated with the mandate on to consumers.

'This is essentially a massive tax increase on the middle class, being passed in the dead of night without the American public really being made aware of what is going on,' he claimed, before contending that an unregulated internet is 'incredibly important force for freedom.

'I am not accusing anyone of sinister motives here, but I am deeply concerned about the idea of any government bureaucrat having the power to tell companies what they can and cannot do. In the long term, this could have a chilling effect on political speech, in ways that today we could not even begin to imagine,' he wrote.

Last week Pai tweeted this photo of himself holding the massive set of rules Democrats on the board of the FCC want to slap on internet service providers. The FCC's chairman has barred the board's members from releasing the plan to the public before a Feb. 26 vote

American Commitment, a conservative organization that fiercely opposes net neutrality, urged Congress last week step in and even suggested that it 'shut down the FCC entirely.

'A supposedly independent agency,' it 'has embarrassingly become an appendage of White House political staff,' Phil Kerpen, president of American Commitment said.

He accused the president of 'imposing sweeping new taxes and destroying private investment, competition, and innovation while putting bureaucrats firmly in control.'

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has indicated that it intends to open up an investigation into the FCC's dealings with the White House to make sure 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue didn't attempt to improperly influence the independent agency's decision-making process.

In an op-ed last week FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler officially announced his intentions to bring for a vote the 'strongest open internet protections ever proposed by the FCC.'

'My proposal assures the rights of internet users to go where they want, when they want, and the rights of innovators to introduce new products without asking anyone’s permission,' he said.

Wheeler has embargoed the contents of the plan however preceding the Feb. 26 vote and barred his fellow commissioners from releasing the document to the press.

At his press conference today, GOP commissioner Pai stuck to the rules and refused to give reporters a copy of the document under review.

'I simply cannot release it on my own as much as I would love to,' he said.

Instead, he issued doomsday warnings based off his own reading and warned 'that consumers that use less data may end up subsidizing consumers that use more data' and have 'less choice and less free data' if the plan is put into effect.

'My bottom line, if you like your current service plan, you should be able to keep your current service plan,' he said. 'The FCC shouldn't take it away from you.'

Referring to the proposal as 'President Obama's plan,' Pai said it 'gives the FCC broad and unprecedented discretion to micromanage the Internet.'

'This plan gives a Washington bureaucracy a blank check to decide how Internet service providers deploy and manage their networks from the last mile all the way through to the Internet backbone.'

Like other Republicans who oppose net neutrality rules, Pai said they would 'open the door to billions of dollars in new taxes on broadband' that could climb as high as $11 billion.

'I foresee adverse consequences to the entire Internet economy,' he predicted,' that will put burdens on everybody across the entire landscape.'

Pai affirmed that he would vote against the measure later this month.