'Call Your Freakin Reps': Pressure on Congress to Restore Net Neutrality or Face Public Wrath

With a full House vote on the Save the Internet Act scheduled for Tuesday, open internet campaigners urged members of the public to call their representatives to demand they pass the bill cleanly—without any telecom-friendly amendments attached—to restore net neutrality.

"Any lawmaker who doesn't want to invoke the wrath of their constituents should vote for its clean passage on the House floor."
—Evan Greer, Fight for the Future

"Despite the terrible decision from Trump-appointed FCC Chairman Ajit Pai—a former Verizon lawyer—it's clear that people all across the political spectrum want net neutrality," wrote Mary Alice Crim, field director for Free Press Action. "But we'll win only if all of us take action and contact our reps. Are you in? Could you make a call today—and help make history?"

"Call your rep at 202-751-4622. Tell your lawmaker to pass the Save the Internet Act with no loopholes," Crim added. "This legislation would restore real net neutrality protections."

The Save the Internet Act needs at least 218 votes to pass the House. As of this writing, the bill has 197 co-sponsors in the House.

"Call your freakin reps," tweeted digital rights group Fight for the Future.

The vote comes after the legislation cleared two crucial committee hurdles unscathed, despite the GOP's last-minute attempts to ram through telecom-friendly amendments that would have gutted the legislation.

"Telecom lobbyists should just give up now. Despite ISP giants like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T spending hundreds of millions of dollars on lobbying, misinformation campaigns, and buying influence through campaign contributions, they've failed to fool the public and efforts to restore net neutrality are moving forward," Evan Greer, deputy director of Fight for the Future, said after the Save the Internet Act passed out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee last week.

In an effort to replicate its recent success livestreaming committee hearings on net neutrality—which attracted hundreds of thousands of viewers—Fight for the Future is planning to livestream the House vote to ensure that lawmakers know the internet is watching:

According to a Comparitech survey published last month, 80 percent of the U.S. public—including 77 percent of Republicans—support net neutrality protections.

"The overwhelming majority of voters from across the political spectrum want Congress to do their jobs and restore these basic protections that never should have been taken away in the first place," Greer said. "The Save the Internet Act would do exactly that, and any lawmaker who doesn't want to invoke the wrath of their constituents should vote for its clean passage on the House floor."