We were packed like sardines in an ornate House hearing room, reduced to sitting on the floor in a room overflowing with telecom lobbyists who avoid waiting in line by paying line-sitting companies upwards of $30 an hour.  

But unlike the phone and cable lobbyists, who may have been fresh and smiling walking into the hearing room, those of us who care about freedom on the Internet walked out smiling.  Despite an unprecedented industry lobbying campaign that one House aide called the biggest since the energy bill, 20 members of the House Judiciary Committee on May 25 did the right thing.  They voted for HR 5417, the Internet Freedom and Nondiscrimination Act.  The bill was bipartisan from the get-go, having the sponsorship of Committee Chair James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and ranking minority member John Conyers (D-MI).  Usually, a committee chair's bill passes.