[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 157 (Wednesday, October 17, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H11645]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              DISCHARGE PETITION FOR BROADCAST FREEDOM ACT

  (Mr. WALDEN of Oregon asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I join the Congressman from Indiana, my 
friend from Indiana, Mike Pence, in asking our colleagues to sign the 
discharge petition today to bring the Broadcast Freedom Act to the 
floor. The Broadcast Freedom Act builds on an initiative that was 
passed yesterday overwhelmingly by this House to protect the rights of 
reporters and their sources from government interference so that we can 
have a vibrant fourth estate, a vibrant press, and free and informed 
democracy.
  Mr. Speaker, the Broadcast Freedom Act would prevent bureaucrats and 
government agencies from censoring and micromanaging what is said on 
the public's airwaves. It's all under the guise of restoring the 
Fairness Doctrine, or so-called, which had an incredible, incredible 
free speech problem that even the courts recognized. Yet, there are 
some who don't like what they hear on broadcast and TV talk shows, and 
the powerful elite in this city would like to restore the Fairness 
Doctrine. We cannot let that happen, not on religious broadcasters, not 
on liberal broadcasters, not on conservative broadcasters. Sign the 
discharge petition. Bring the Freedom Act up for a vote.

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