Political Quotes

“Madam President, in a few minutes, I am going to ask unanimous consent to pass my bipartisan bill, the PRESS Act. And this legislation is deeply personal to me. I am very proud to be the son of Peter Wyden, who was an award- winning journalist. My dad fled the Nazis in the 1930s, and members of his family died at the hands of the Nazis. In the United States, my dad became such a good writer, he became part of our Army's elite group, the Ritchie Boys, that wrote the propaganda pamphlets that we dropped on Nazis. Growing up, my dad always mentioned that several of our Founding Fathers--as I indicated to the majority leader here--stressed how important the free press was to our country. And my dad emphasized how important it is that American journalists can do their jobs without unneeded government interference. So our bipartisan bill shields journalists from being forced by the courts to disclose their sources or information provided by their sources, with--as the majority leader and I have emphasized--key exceptions exist in our legislation for national security and other critical matters. And our bill also does not otherwise limit the government's ability to pursue leakers. So this is so common sense that nearly every State in the country has some form of reporters' shield on the books. Democratic and Republican State legislators alike have found value in preserving the free flow of information and codifying these fundamental freedoms.…”