Sen. John Kerry — a longtime Net Neutrality champion — today sent out a letter to his Senate colleagues urging them to vote “no” on an upcoming resolution of disapproval that would wreck our ability to communicate online.

The resolution, expected to hit the Senate floor on Tuesday, would strip the FCC of its authority to regulate the Internet — and would hand that power to corporations like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon. These companies would be able to determine which sites go fast, which move at a snail's pace and which take what feels like forever to load. The resolution would also give companies the ability to favor their network services over their competitors’.

In his letter, Kerry debunks the argument that the Net Neutrality rules the FCC passed last December would stifle online economic innovation. “The network neutrality rules govern not the Internet,” Kerry writes, “but rather the behavior of firms owning and operating the gateways to the Internet — the wires and airwaves that carry the information that connects you to everyone else on the Internet.”

All of that would fly out the window if the Senate passes the resolution of disapproval. “If the rules are overturned,” Kerry notes, “every innovator on the Internet will be exposed to the risk that before they innovate … they would have to ask ‘Mother may I’ to the companies that control access to the users on the other end of the line.”

Tuesday’s vote is expected to be a nail biter. Here’s hoping that Kerry’s fellow senators give his letter a serious read.