Political Quotes

“Mr. Cramer, I appreciate the opportunity. It is an honor to be able to stand up and advocate on behalf of our broadcasters, who are not only my constituents and your constituents, but my colleagues, because I am, as you mentioned, a former broadcaster, and I know firsthand the importance of broadcasting, as you indicated, to local and national communities. You talked about a weather occurrence. Last week, my district and most of Arkansas was blanketed with ice. {time} 1715 I can tell you with certainty that a good number of my constituents were tuned in to their local radio station, their local television station, to hear about school closures and to hear about road conditions and to hear about other community closures and shelters that might be available and any number of things that are necessary in times of weather that could put them in a position of distress, so it is very, very important. I have got some statistics here that really speak to the value proposition that they bring to our economy. In my district alone, there are 20 local television stations and 233 local radio stations in the State of Arkansas. That is statewide, not districtwide. These broadcasters contribute $9.83 billion to our State's GDP, and they have provided roughly 22,000 jobs in the State of Arkansas. Beyond Arkansas, in the entire country, local broadcasters account for 2.65 million jobs, and they provide--get this--$1.24 trillion to our GDP.…”