FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 16, 2018
Contact: Mark Stanley, 202.681.7582, [email protected]
The following statement may be attributed to Demand Progress Executive Director David Segal:
“Today is a major victory for net neutrality, democracy and grassroots activism.”
“Voters of both parties have long been fed up with the rigged game in Washington, in which powerful lobbies like the Big Cable monopolists can bend policy to their will through access and money. Today’s vote, made possible by a massive and continuous outpouring of grassroots advocacy, is a significant rebuke to this rigged system that has unfairly advantaged the most well-connected and wealthiest corporations. The Senate’s vote for net neutrality is a historic win for free expression and innovation, over censorship and greater profits for Big Cable.”
“Demand Progress thanks the senators who voted for the CRA resolution and who made the obvious choice by standing with the more than 85% of Americans who oppose the FCC’s disastrous repeal of net neutrality. For those lawmakers who opposed the CRA today and sided with Big Cable in its push to control the internet for profit, their stances on one of the most consequential votes on internet freedom this century will be remembered over months and years to come.”
“Now, the fight turns to the House, where pressure will mount on both Republican and Democratic members to support the discharge petition to bring the CRA resolution to a floor vote. Representatives that do not support the discharge will be seen as opponents not just of the CRA–which is Congress’ only viable means to restore strong net neutrality protections this session–but as opponents of an open internet that their constituents depend on for news, entertainment and speech, and that their communities’ small business owners rely on for their livelihoods.”
“The fight for net neutrality now has more momentum than ever in Congress, and activists, startups and companies will not back down or be deterred — we will continue to organize and pressure Congress until it does the right thing and passes the CRA resolution to ensure an open internet for all.”
Demand Progress is a progressive grassroots group with over two million members. Along with allies Fight for the Future and Free Press Action Fund, Demand Progress has led efforts to drive pro-net neutrality activism through the online hub BattleForTheNet.com, generating over 16 million emails and 1.5 million phone calls to lawmakers, and organizing some of the country’s largest advocacy groups and internet platforms to participate in a ‘Red Alert’ campaign in support of the CRA resolution this week.
Demand Progress has also been a leader on the Team Internet project, which involves thousands of people organizing in-person activism events to support net neutrality. In recent months, Team Internet has helped organize hundreds of protests in all 50 states in support of the open internet.
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