[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 39 (Wednesday, March 7, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H2249]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     FIRST AMENDMENT AND FREEDOM OF THE PRESS ARE STILL BEHIND BARS

  (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, if there is anything we learned from the 
conviction of Vice Presidential aide Scooter Libby yesterday, it is 
that the first amendment and the freedom of the press are still behind 
bars. The need for a Federal media shield bill has never been more 
apparent.
  Yesterday, Mr. Libby was convicted of lying to a grand jury. That is 
reprehensible, and he will be held to the strictest account.
  But as the Washington Post editorial page pointed out this morning, 
his chief accuser, Joe Wilson, also lied about who sent him to Africa, 
what he found there, and about whether his wife was a covert CIA agent. 
The Washington Post even called Joe Wilson today a ``blowhard.''
  Ironically, while Mr. Wilson was lying to the press and creating a 
partisan furor, Mr. Libby was telling the truth to reporters, and that 
is what got him in trouble.
  The case presented us with a long spectacle of reporters being jailed 
and threatened with jail time for not revealing confidential sources. 
Because there is no Federal media shield law, the real losers in all of 
this difficult and tragic case are not actually reporters or the press, 
but the American public.
  My own colleague, Congressman Rick Boucher, and I will be 
reintroducing the Free Flow of Information Act. I urge my colleagues in 
Congress to take it up expeditiously. It is time to restore the fabric 
of the first amendment freedom of the press.

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