| Friend — With the Biden administration’s push for much-needed infrastructure spending, 2021 could prove to be a historic year for the United States.
With the right investments, this package could make internet access actually affordable for millions of people and ensure our networks are built to withstand the serious threats of the climate crisis.
But if we know one thing about politics it’s this: If advocates like Free Press Action aren’t doing everything we can to talk to people and demand equity — Congress doesn’t do the right thing. Instead lawmakers listen to industry lobbyists. And according to a new report,1 during the 116th Congress ISP lobbyists spent $234 million to lobby lawmakers — which is more than 39 times our total annual 2021 budget.
We have reason to believe that Biden’s infrastructure bill may move forward before the August congressional recess. Please donate today to help provide the resources we need to help make 2021 a history-making year. Whether due to a pandemic or climate disasters, the inability to connect and communicate can be deadly: - Power cables literally melted during a heatwave in Portland, Oregon, last month — an event that was so extreme it astounded the scientific community.
- Over the past year, the lack of reliable and affordable internet denied millions of disproportionately low-income and disproportionately Black and Brown people access to potentially lifesaving news about COVID-19.
- In Puerto Rico, the inability to communicate cost thousands of people their lives in 2017 after Hurricanes Maria and Irma destroyed the islands’ communication networks.
It is imperative that we ramp up our fight for affordable internet and a climate-resistant communications infrastructure in the coming weeks. Please donate today.
We know that moving Congress is difficult (to say the least) — but we also know that our movement has the power to drive meaningful action.
Thanks to support from people like you, Free Press Action was able to work with Sen. Ed Markey and others in Congress to build significant support for affordable high-speed internet into last December’s COVID-19 relief bill. It is because people like you stood with us that we were able to help draft key provisions of the 2020 HEROES Act.
When this movement comes together we can move mountains. Could you help provide the resources we need to make history in 2021?
In solidarity,
Heather and the rest of the Free Press Action team
freepress.net
P.S. In the 116th Congress, ISP lobbyists spent $320,000 on lobbying lawmakers every single day. Donate today to help us confront the industry’s power and push lawmakers to include affordable-internet measures in the infrastructure package.
1. “Report Finds Big Telecom Spends $320,000 on Lobbying Every Day,” Motherboard, July 19, 2021
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