Maurice Hinchey: “this government, our government, derives its just power from the consent of the governed. Those words form the basic…”

“this government, our government, derives its just power from the consent of the governed. Those words form the basic founding principle of this Nation: The government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed. But in order for the governed to give their consent, they must be informed. It must be not an ignorant consent. It must be an informed consent. It must be a consent based on knowledge and accurate information and a multiplicity of voices and the opportunity for everyone to be heard. The marketplace of ideas in this country shall not be shut down. Otherwise, we lose the basic founding principle of our country. But, unfortunately, the Federal Communications Commission in its decision on June 2 has gone a long way to doing precisely that, shutting down the marketplace of ideas. What they did was to weaken the rules governing cross-ownership of the media, newspapers, television, radio. What the FCC has done very quietly without any public hearings outside of Washington except for one, which they held in Richmond, Virginia, they have passed a rule which will shut down the ability for people to understand what is going on in this country. We need to restore the previous rules, and we have an opportunity in this bill, through this amendment, to do precisely that in the next fiscal year.”