House Lawmakers Push for Vote on Media Rules

House Lawmakers Push for Vote on Media Rules

Mon October 20, 2003 06:41 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A growing number of U.S. House of Representatives lawmakers have signed a letter pushing for a vote to roll back newly relaxed ownership limits on media conglomerates, upping pressure on Republican leaders who oppose the measure.

Rep. Maurice Hinchey, a New York Democrat, has collected 190 signatures from both parties urging House Speaker Dennis Hastert to allow the lawmakers to vote on a Senate-passed resolution that would restore stricter ownership limits, his spokesman said on Monday.

The signatures are still short of a 218 majority in 435-seat House, where Republican leaders have refused to consider the resolution and can ignore the letter. The White House has threatened to veto the measure should it get to the president's desk.

"The public deserves a debate on this important matter, yet the full House has never debated the complete repeal of the FCC's new media ownership rules," Hinchey and other lawmakers said in the letter seeking signatures.

more...........

http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=3651519

and already vented my spleen on the issue:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=175852

Whoops, I'm usually pretty good about not posting a dupe but I panicked when I saw this article. Oh well, perhaps folks will see one of these threads and act. We're screwed if Fox and the right wing gets in control of American Media.

Moveon.org is also fighting to roll back the FCC ruling. Man the phones!
>>Dear MoveOn member,

They said it wasn't possible -- that Congress would never roll back
new FCC rules allowing a few big outlets to control our country's
media. But with tens of thousands of phone calls and hundreds of
thousands of emails, we won by 55-40 in the Senate.

Now the campaign to block the FCC's disastrous loosening of media
ownership rules has reached a make-or-break moment in Congress.
Speaker Dennis Hastert and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay have
indicated that they will not allow a final vote on the rule change.
They won't allow it because they know they and their contributors in
the nation's biggest media corporations could lose. But if they don't
allow a vote on this soon, we could lose our chance to roll back the
rule change this year. We need your help.

Please call your representative today:
http://www.moveon.org/news/1807.html

They've got a space where you can enter your Zip code and find the contact numbers for your Representative.<<

FIGHT FAUX NEWS!


"It's not over 'till Arnold gropes the fat lady" —Bill Press, on MSNBC

http://www.recallarnoldwatch.org

n/t