Provided, further, that none of the funds appropriated by this Act or any other Act may be used to repeal, to retroactively apply changes in, or to begin or continue a re-examination of the rules of the Federal Communications Commission with respect to the common ownership of a daily newspaper and a television station where the grade A contour of the television station encompasses the entire community in which the newspaper is published, or to extend the time period of current grants of temporary waivers to achieve compliance with such rules....
I want to make sure everyone understands why I authored this law. This law serves the useful purpose of ensuring that the intent set forth in the first half of this amendment, that the FCC not modify the existing criteria for permanent waivers, not be evaded through the successive grants of temporary waivers. This applies to any extension of any temporary waiver which is granted, not just the outstanding temporary waivers held by Mr. Murdoch.
At the same time, I want to emphasize that the amendment was not directed specifically at Mr. Murdoch or his waivers, but at all persons who would be similarly situated, and at all waivers, now or in the future, in situations where persons such as Mr. Murdoch would be seeking to evade the cross-ownership rule by obtaining a permanent exemption in the guise of a series of temporary waivers.
Murdoch is defended. He went to court already. He knows how to get injunctions on the spurious nonsense of some constitutional provision that provides [sic] only to him.
[N]obody appeared in opposition to the cross-ownership rules other than this sneaky operation of Rupert Murdoch. Now, I found out that the prevaricator and the manipulator has gotten the high road of the headlines and editorials ...
Mr. Murdoch has gotten a waiver and now through a variety of mechanisms is attempting to get a full permanent waiver *809 **191 of the cross-ownership rule. Tell me how fair that is.
Who is he to think that he is going to be able to sneak around this set of rules whether he sets up a nonprofit organization, a tax [sic—attacks?] fairness, and advocates his position, whether he goes around with a lot of very high-powered Washington lawyers, or whatever, and that one man is going to be able to obviate [sic] these rules.
What this issue is about is whether one individual is going to be able to circumvent a clearly laid out set of rules and regulations, whether one individual is going to be able to end-run the intent of the FCC, the intent of Congress; whether one individual, having clearly stated he was going to divest, will be allowed to go back on his word.
[A]s one who, by innuendo, has been dragged through the mud by Mr. Murdoch, as one who woke up one morning to read that I had a Communist spy nest in my office because a young intern, unpaid, happened to talk to somebody on the streets of Washington, I can assure you that when it comes to media ownership in the United States, my doubts have nothing to do with his citizenship. I just think he probably is the No. 1 dirt bag owner of any publications or media in this Nation.
... where non content-based distinctions are drawn in a statute affecting First Amendment rights, the Supreme Court has held that the government interest served must be “substantial” and the statutory classification “narrowly tailored” to serve that interest if the statute is to withstand equal protection scrutiny.
The framers of the Constitution knew, and we should not forget today, that there is no more effective practical guaranty against arbitrary and unreasonable government than to require that the principles of law which officials would impose upon a minority must be imposed generally. Conversely, nothing opens the door to arbitrary action so effectively as to allow those officials to pick and choose only a few to whom they will apply legislation and thus escape the political retribution that might be visited upon them if larger numbers were affected. Courts can take no better measure to assure that laws will be just than to require that laws be equal in operation.
that none of the funds appropriated by this Act or any other Act may be used to repeal, to retroactively apply changes in, or to begin or continue a reexamination of the rules of the Federal Communications Commission with respect to the common ownership of a daily newspaper and a television station where the grade A contour of the television station encompasses the entire community in which the newspaper is published, or to extend the time period of current grants of temporary waivers to achieve compliance with such rules.12
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