Media Cartel Bill Committee Vote Delayed After Deal ‘Blown Up’

The Senate Judiciary Committee delayed a committee markup to advance the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) after the bill faced bipartisan push back.

The committee gathered Thursday to discuss the merits of the JCPA, a bill that would create an antitrust exemption for the largest media conglomerates to negotiate with big tech.

Conservatives in both houses of Congress have opposed the bill, including Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Mike Lee (R-UT), House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jim Jordan (R-OH), and more.

The committee hearing featured conservatives such as Blackburn, Cotton, Lee, and others.

Lee said that the bill could likely violate the Constitution, as it would compel speech, and said that the bill would serve as a special interest carveout for large media conglomerates, amounting to an “Obamacare for the free press:”

The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act is nothing less than Obamacare for the press. Congress should reject making the same mistake twice. pic.twitter.com/6uHiVrzPyz

— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) September 8, 2022

The committee moved towards amendments to the bill, in which Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) proposed an amendment that would ensure negotiations between internet platforms and media outlets cannot discuss censorship.

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), an advocate for the JCPA, said he would approve of the amendment, which led to confusion between him and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN). The confusion led to a delay on the bill.

Klobuchar said, “Senator Kennedy, we’ve worked on this for months, we won’t be able to support the Cruz amendment here.”

Klobuchar added they will delay a vote on the bill until another Judiciary Committee hearing because Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) was not at the meeting to vote on the amendments.

“The agreement we had has been blown up.”