[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 32 (Tuesday, March 14, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H877-H878]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION ACT

  (Mr. PENCE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PENCE. Mr. Speaker, the Constitution of the United States reads 
in part that Congress shall make no law abridging freedom of the press. 
This freedom represents a bedrock of our democracy by ensuring the free 
flow of information to the public. But, sadly, this freedom is under 
attack.
  Over the last few years, more than a dozen reporters have been issued 
subpoenas and questioned about confidential sources. In response to 
this alarming trend, last year I introduced the Free Flow of 
Information Act, a bill designed to protect reporters' rights to keep 
sources confidential.
  I am particularly pleased today to rise to announce to the House that 
the

[[Page H878]]

House Judiciary Committee, under the chairmanship of Jim Sensenbrenner, 
will be holding committee hearings on a Federal media shield law. I 
can't think of a more appropriate time to announce a hearing on this 
bill than during what is known as National Sunshine Week. This is a 
week where newspapers all across the land celebrate the importance of 
openness in government.
  The Free Flow of Information Act strikes a proper balance between the 
public's interest in free dissemination of information and the needs of 
law enforcement. I urge my colleagues to cosponsor the Free Flow of 
Information Act. I commend the chairman of the House Judiciary 
Committee for this important step forward, and I close with Daniel 
Webster's missive that ``the entire and absolute freedom of the press 
is essential to the preservation of government on the basis of a free 
constitution.''

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