Political Quotes

“I come to the floor to talk about the Local Journalism Sustainability Act. And before the majority leader leaves, I want to thank him for his leadership on such an important piece of legislation. From the very beginning, he understood the fact that diversity in resources is about competition and is a key part of our democracy, and we wouldn't be at the precipice of getting support for local journalism without his help. So I thank him for that. We originally introduced legislation here in the Senate that Senators Wyden, Kelly, Schatz, Markey, Murray, Klobuchar, my colleague Senator Schumer, Manchin, Cortez Masto, Sinema, Baldwin, Lujan, Leahy, and Blumenthal all supported. This is important legislation. We hope our House colleagues will take this up this afternoon or tomorrow, as it is included in the Build Back Better program, to make sure that we have the free press that is essential to our democracy and that we have true competition. Local news is a trusted source of news. Working to high journalistic standards, local newspapers and broadcasters play a critical role in holding our elected officials accountable, shining a spotlight on important news, and challenging the issues of our community to come to light. As one friend of mine said, local news is like hanging a lantern on a problem so that the light shines through.…”