[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16395]
[From the U.S. 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 ``Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech or 
of the press.'' These freedoms represent the bedrock of our democracy, 
by ensuring a free flow of information to the public.
  Sadly, these freedoms are under attack. And while politicians here in 
Washington, D.C. engage in a familiar clash along the fault lines of 
the politics of personal destruction, a much greater scandal languishes 
in a quiet prison cell in suburban Washington, D.C. in the sad image of 
an American journalist behind bars whose only crime was standing up for 
the public's right to know.
  Judith Miller is not alone. In the past year, nine journalists have 
been given or threatened with jail sentences for refusing to reveal 
confidential sources. That is why my colleague, the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Boucher), and I have introduced the Free Flow of 
Information Act, which will have its first hearing in the Senate 
Judiciary Committee tomorrow.
  Nothing less than the public's right to know is at stake, and I urge 
my colleagues to join us in standing for a free and independent press 
by supporting and cosponsoring the Free Flow of Information Act.

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