House Launches FCC-Blocking Effort
Inslee-Led Bill Mirrors Similar Move by Dorgan
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/13/2008 7:09:00 PM EDT
A House version of a Federal Communications Commission-blocking legislative maneuver was introduced.
Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) already introduced his version, with high-profile backers including Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.).
Like Dorgan's effort, the House version is a "resolution of disapproval" that would prevent the implementation of the FCC's Dec. 18 decision loosening the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership ban to allow combinations in the top 20 markets, subject to some conditions. "“We need to use every tool available to prevent further weakening of media-ownership rules," said chief sponsor Jay Inslee (D-Wash.).
Co-sponsors so far are reps. Dave Reichert (R-Wash.), Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.).
Dorgan attempted a similar blocking bill when the FCC passed more deregulatory rules back in 2003, but that effort was stalled in the Republican-controlled Senate and eventually mooted by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals' stay and remand of the rules.
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