Democrats Take On the Media’s Billion Dollar Plan To Strengthen Citizens United

http://www.politicususa.com/democrats-medias-billion-dolllar-plan-strengthen-citizens-united.html

By: Jason Easley June 18, 2012

House Democrats are gearing up for a Wednesday showdown with the corporate media and their Republican pals over language in a bill that would strengthen Citizens United.

In response to Citizens United the FCC adopted a new rule that required TV broadcasters to put political advertising disclosure documents online, so that they would be available for public inspection. This new rule would have allowed anybody to see who is paying for the political advertising that they are watching. Currently, the only way to view the disclosure documents is by making a written request to each television station, then going to the station to read the disclosure forms.

The push to kill the new rule came from the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB). The NAB members are set to make billions of dollars off of Citizens United fueled spending, so they fought back by dumping tens of millions of dollars into lobbying and campaign contributions. Their plan worked. On June 5th, the Republican majority on the House Appropriations Committee added a rider to the bill that blocked the FCC from implementing the new rule.

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