Thread by @fightfortheftr

THREAD: At 3pm, the Senate will vote on a resolution to block the FCC’s #NetNeutrality repeal and restore basic protections that prevent companies like Comcast and AT&T from censoring online content, slowing down websites and apps, and charging expensive new fees.

Our work for Internet freedom will continue long after today, but the outcome of this vote will affect the battlefield that we are fighting on for years to come.

This is the most important thing for everyone to understand: we’re facing off with some of the most politically powerful corporations in the world. We’re fighting an uphill battle. But in the big picture, we are winning on #NetNeutrality.
theverge.com/2017/12/11/167…

The latest poll shows that 86% of voters from across the political spectrum  oppose the FCC’s repeal. No one wants their cable company to control which websites and apps they can use, where they get their news, or how they listen to music and stream video.

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And that overwhelming public consensus is turning into real political power. Dozens of attorneys general, small and large businesses, and public interest groups have filed lawsuits to save the rules.
arstechnica.com/tech-policy/20…

More than 30 states are considering local legislation in defiance of the FCC, and one hundred mayors have pledged to defend the open Internet in their cities.
theverge.com/2018/3/17/1712…

Together, we’ve driven more than 16 million emails and calls to lawmakers since this latest attack began. BattlefortheNet.com

We're making real progress in Congress too. ISP lobbyists are furious about the Senate vote today. They hoped to use the “crisis” following the FCC repeal to ram through bad legislation that claimed to save #NetNeutrality while permanently undermining it.
gizmodo.com/dont-fall-for-…

Instead, we’ve got them playing defense, and you can tell they’re getting nervous.

Here’s the path forward: the Congressional Review Act (CRA) is somewhat of a blunt instrument. It allows our elected officials in Congress to overturn decisions made by federal agencies like the FCC with a simple majority vote in both houses.

Assuming the CRA passes the Senate, we’ll need to immediately take the fight to the House of Representatives. DC insiders claim that we’ll never get anywhere in the House. But… those are the same DC insiders that never thought we’d get a Senate vote today. Here’s how we can win:

In the House, we’ll need 218 lawmakers to sign on to a “discharge petition” in order to force a vote past leadership to the floor. That means we’ll need to convince all the Democrats, and about 25 Republicans, to support the CRA.
battleforthenet.com/scoreboard/

And the clock is ticking — if the CRA resolution doesn’t get a vote this year, it dies when the new Congress comes into session.

Outside DC, #NetNeutrality is not a partisan issue. But with the GOP in power, the big ISPs have been putting all of their eggs into that basket, spreading misinformation that targets conservatives and trying to turn the debate into a political circus.
donttreadonthe.net/?link_id=4&can…

But we’re seeing cracks in that wall. Several Republican Senators have been openly considering voting for the #NetNeutrality CRA, while one of President Trump’s own high level advisors encouraged him to support it should it arrive on his desk.

If we can seize the momentum around this Senate vote and mobilize massive pressure on the House, we could see a small landslide of Republican lawmakers who choose to side with their constituents rather than cast a vote against net neutrality just months before the midterms.

That means we’re going to need a dedicated corps of volunteers, signal boosters, and people spreading the word over the next few months. We’ll need to organize in-person protests and events, call-in days, canvassing efforts, online actions, and more. BattlefortheNet.com

We’ve turned #NetNeutrality into a mainstream issue for the first time ever. And now we’re building a movement to make sure that we protect it for generations to come. The fight ahead is not going to be easy, but victory is within reach. BattlefortheNet.com