Committee Vote on Net Neutrality Tomorrow
by mcjoan
Tue Jun 27, 2006 at 08:17:13 PM PDT
Sen. Wyden's pledge to "hold" any anti-net neutrality legislation that reaches the Senate floor might be raising some concern in the Senate leadership.
WASHINGTON, June 27 (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens said on Tuesday he does not yet have the necessary votes to get legislation to overhaul communications laws through the full Senate. . . .
Stevens told reporters he had not yet secured the 60 votes needed to end debate on the Senate floor, known as cloture, and set the measure for a final vote by the lawmakers.
"We have to get 60 votes, we don't have them right now," the Alaska Republican said after a daylong committee session for amending his proposed legislation. He has predicted the panel would pass the bill.
Stevens said he would not likely get a commitment from Senate leaders to bring the measure to the floor until there was greater support and that the toughest issue facing senators was Internet service, known as Net neutrality.
"They're not going to take a month on the floor on this bill," Stevens said. "Unless we can define a period of time that we get it done, we'll not get it up (on the Senate floor) and that's defined by 60 votes."
However, that could just be Stevens's way of letting the telcos know that they need to get out the checkbooks one more time. It would be much better to win this fight in the Commerce Committee tomorrow, which can still happen if we hold all Democratic Senators and pick up one or two Republicans to support the Snowe/Dorgan amendment to the legislation. Here are the Senators that Save the Internet says haven't stated a position on net neutrality. If any of these Senators represent you, please take a few minutes tomorrow morning to call to request support for the Snowe/Dorgan amendment. You can also contact them via the main switchboard toll free at 1-888-355-3588.
* Chairman Ted Stevens, Phone: 202-224-3004
* Sen. John McCain, Phone: 202 -224-2235
* Sen. Mark Pryor, Phone: 202-224-2353
* Sen. Bill Nelson, Phone: 202-224-5274
* Sen. Frank Lautenberg, Phone: 202 224 3224
* Sen. David Vitter, Phone: 202 224-4623
* Sen. Trent Lott, Phone: 202-224-6253
* Sen. Conrad Burns, Phone: 202-224-2644
* Sen. Ben Nelson, Phone: 202-224-6551
* Sen. John Ensign, Phone: 202-224-6244
* Sen. John E. Sununu, Phone: 202-224-2841
* Sen. Gordon Smith, Phone: 202-224-3753
* Sen. Jim DeMint, Phone: 202 224-6121
* Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. Phone: 202-224-5922
* Sen. George Allen, Phone: 202-224-4024
* Sen. John D. Rockefeller, Phone: 202-224-6472
Stevens and Smith are almost certainly against us, and McCain, Allen, and Hutchison are the most likely supporters among Republicans. We should be able to count on the votes of both Nelsons and Rockefeller, but they are definitely worth calling. After all, you don't want your Internet to look like your cable TV, do you? Take the poll.
dailykos.com
savetheinternet.com |
