The Radio & Television Business Report, a media trade journal, has admitted defeat on the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA), conceding that the gravy train for the corporate establishment media will not be passed in this congress.
“With the JCPA language not included in the omnibus bill, there will likely be no legislative action during this Congressional session,” wrote R&TVBR.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
The trade journal also spoke to a D.C. insider who said an omnibus attachment was the “only way” for the JCPA to be approved, with the prospects of a standalone bill passing “all but dead.”
The JCPA, had it passed, would have been a corporate welfare bonanza for the media industry. The bill would have established a government-approved gravy train of financial handouts and other favors from Big Tech to Big Media, deepening the insider relationship between the two powerful institutions.
Media lobbyists pushed relentlessly for the bill throughout this Congress. However, despite some Republican collaborators, the JCPA faced stiff opposition from leading conservatives in the House and Senate.
The bill’s staunch early foes included Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Mike Lee (R-UT), and Reps. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Steve Scalise (R-LA).
Via Breitbart News:
The incoming House Majority Whip, Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN), reportedly agrees with Rep. McCarthy’s position that the JCPA should not be included in any end-of-year omnibus.
Senator-elect Katie Britt (R-AL) also slammed the bill recently, saying it has “no place” in an omnibus bill.
Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, condemned the bill as a “barnacle” that should not be added to an omnibus or any other “must-pass” piece of legislation.
House Appropriations Committee member Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA) also said the JCPA should not be lumped in with an omnibus, condemning the practice of attaching controversial bills to must-pass packages like the omnibus.
But it wasn’t just conservatives who objected to the media bailout. Outside of congress, everyone from media workers’ unions to free market libertarians had issues with the bill.
Via Breitbart News:
The bill attracted opposition from virtually every point on the political spectrum. Conservatives objected to the bill due to its obvious censorship loopholes. Media unions and the progressive left objected because the bill was a handout to the same hedge fund owners of media companies that have slashed staffing and pay across the industry. Libertarians objected because the bill forced one set of companies to fund another, infringing on the free market. And non-partisan experts objected because the bill upended free link-sharing, one of the core operating principles of the world wide web.
After failing to secure floor time for a standalone bill, the media industry’s allies in Congress attempted to attach it to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). These efforts failed after a massive backlash from Republicans in Congress, including calls from Sen. Tom Cotton to filibuster the bill if it included gratuitous non-defense items, which resulted in the JCPA language being pulled.
With the omnibus bill now passed through the Senate and likely to pass the House, there is no other realistic option for the JCPA to make it into law during this Congress.
