[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 904 Introduced in House (IH)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 904

   Commending the American press for its long history of keeping the 
 American public informed of its government's actions both at home and 
                                abroad.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 29, 2006

 Mr. Dingell submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
  the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on 
International Relations, for a period to be subsequently determined by 
the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
           within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
   Commending the American press for its long history of keeping the 
 American public informed of its government's actions both at home and 
                                abroad.

Whereas the British crown restricted the rights of a free press by forbidding 
        the printing of dissenting opinions for centuries leading up to the 
        American War of Independence;
Whereas Benjamin Franklin understood the importance of the free press because he 
        purchased and ran the leading newspaper of the colonial era, the 
        Pennsylvania Gazette;
Whereas Thomas Paine's Common Sense (1776) and Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of 
        Independence (1776) are two well-known and influential examples of 
        Revolutionary literature published in the colonies, which demonstrate 
        the importance of a free press;
Whereas Thomas Jefferson said, ``Were it left to me to decide whether we should 
        have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a 
        government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter,'' and 
        ``Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be 
        limited without being lost'';
Whereas a free press, the Founding Fathers believed, was an essential check 
        against despotism, and integral to advancing human understanding of the 
        sciences, arts, and humanities;
Whereas in an amendment offered in Congress by James Madison, he stated, ``The 
        people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to 
        write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as 
        one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable;'';
Whereas James Madison articulated the view that, ``The security of the freedom 
        of the press requires that it should be exempt, not only from previous 
        restraint of the executive, as in Great Britain; but from legislative 
        restraint also; and this exemption, not only from the previous 
        inspection of licensers, but from the subsequent penalty of laws;'';
Whereas penned by Madison and Jefferson, The Virginia Resolution of 1798 (a 
        document which presupposes that states have the right to decide the 
        constitutionality of laws passed by Congress) stated that, ``The Liberty 
        of conscience and of the press cannot be cancelled, abridged, 
        restrained, or modified by any authority of the United States;'';
Whereas during the debates between the Federalist and the Ant-Federalists over 
        the Bill of Rights, the press played a vital role in helping bring 
        public awareness by publicly publishing the debates;
Whereas the Framers of the Constitution recognized the importance of a free 
        press by enshrining it in the first amendment, ``Congress shall make no 
        law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press;'';
Whereas Walter Lippman, the 20th Century columnist, wrote, ``A free press is not 
        a privilege, but an organic necessity in a great society;'';
Whereas President Herbert Hoover said ``Absolute freedom of the press to discuss 
        public questions is a foundation stone of American liberty;'';
Whereas President Harry S. Truman stated ``We need not fear the expression of 
        ideas--we do need to fear their suppression;'';
Whereas the Pentagon Papers led to the uncovering of illegal activity under the 
        Nixon administration;
Whereas, after failing to get The New York Times to voluntarily stop publishing 
        the Pentagon Papers in 1971, Attorney General John Mitchell and 
        President Nixon requested and obtained a Federal court injunction that 
        the Times cease the publication of excerpts;
Whereas the Assistant Attorney General in 1971, William Rehnquist, asked the 
        Washington Post to stop publishing the documents relating to the 
        Pentagon Papers, and when the Post refused, the Department of Justice 
        sought another injunction;
Whereas the Supreme Court ruled in New York Times vs. U.S., the 1971 Pentagon 
        Papers case, that ``any use of the judiciary to order constraint makes a 
        shambles out of the First Amendment;'';
Whereas Washington Post journalists Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward's 
        investigations in the Watergate burglary helped to uncover the 
        corruption under the Nixon Administration, which resulted in the 
        President's resignation in 1974;
Whereas the Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa exposed the arrangement between the 
        Reagan Administration and the weapons-for-hostages deal in 1986, which 
        resulted in Oliver North and John Poindexter being indicted on multiple 
        charges on March 16, 1988;
Whereas the majority of the Congress learned of a warrantless NSA wiretapping 
        program, directed by the Bush Administration, through the investigative 
        reporting of The New York Times;
Whereas the Bush Administration requested that the Washington Post not publish 
        their Pulitzer Prize winning story on the secret black prisons in 
        Eastern Europe;
Whereas the torture conducted by American soldiers at Abu Ghraib was only 
        publicly addressed by the Bush Administration following its published 
        disclosure by Pulitzer Prize winner Seymour Hersh;
Whereas a report on the conditions in Guantanamo Bay ``offended'' the Vice 
        President and was labeled ``absurd'' by the President;
Whereas the Washington Post helped uncover the Republican ``culture of 
        corruption'', exposed the illegal acts of Jack Abramoff, resulting in 
        his guilty plea, and led to the conviction of David Safavian; and
Whereas the disclosure to the American public that their banking transactions 
        are being secretly monitored by the government was met by the Bush 
        Administration calling The New York Times ``disgraceful'' for their 
        reporting: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved,  That the House of Representatives--
            (1) commends the American press for its long history of 
        keeping the American public informed of its government's 
        actions both at home and abroad;
            (2) repudiates censorship of the press and reaffirms that a 
        vital characteristic of any democratic society is a vibrant 
        press, free of intimidation from those in power, and that the 
        news industry is indispensable to the health of our democratic 
        institutions;
            (3) finds that the press, at its best, helps to educate the 
        American people and provides all Americans a vital means of 
        understanding the actions of the Congress, the Administration, 
        and the Supreme Court, in addition to reporting the important 
        actions taken by State and local governments;
            (4) condemns those regimes, Communist and otherwise, who 
        use all manner of intimidation to weaken, silence, and censor 
        the press for stories that those regimes deem inappropriate;
            (5) praises the government of Iraq for its commitment to a 
        free and unfettered press as well as the brave Iraqi 
        journalists who have put their lives at risk to 
        institutionalize a free press in Iraq; and
            (6) expects that all elected representatives of the 
        American people hold true to their oath to preserve, protect, 
        and defend the Constitution of the United States and not use 
        the trust of their office to weaken, in any way, the vital role 
        of a free press in our open and democratic society.
                                 <all>