Political Quotes

“I rise in support of the Broadcast Decency and Enforcement Act of 2004, which is a bipartisan product of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet. Both the ranking member, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey) and our chairman, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton), have produced a good bill incorporating ideas of a number of Members. Let me say in response to my colleague from California, I noticed a substantial change in the last 2 months with the Federal Communications Commission. And I will talk about that a little bit. That without this legislation increasing the penalties, without the hearings we held, we would not see renewed vigor and renewed interest by the FCC enforcing the decency standards. And so, that is why even though the bill basically just increases the fines, what it did was it brought attention to the issue along with what has happened with our media outlets all across the country, I think, culminated in with what I think my colleague from New England would agree, was a great Super Bowl football game, but was eclipsed by what happened at half time. So, granted, this bill raises the penalties, but it also brought the attention of the regulators and a renewed vigor in enforcing the current law.”