Ed Markey

Mr. MARKEY

Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Bonior].

Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from North Dakota [Mr. Pomeroy].

Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Connecticut [Ms. DeLauro].

Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield the remaining 30 seconds to the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Levin].

Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from North Carolina [Mr. Hefner].

Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from New York [Mrs. Lowey].

Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Texas [Ms. Jackson-Lee]. (Ms. JACKSON-LEE asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina [Mr. Spratt]. (Mr. SPRATT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. MARKEY. Then, Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that the gentleman from Indiana be yielded 7\1/2\ minutes, and that he be given control of that time.

Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, I would like to know if, under the rules, it is permissible for me to yield 7\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. Burton] and then allow him to disburse that time as he sees fit.

Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, I have a parliamentary inquiry.

Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 2 minutes. Mr. Chairman, this is not a debate over how many more hundreds of thousands of miles of fiberoptic may be laid or how many gigabits of additional computer power may be established. All that is find and well, but you cannot measure a nation, you cannot measure a people, by how many gigabits or feet of fiberoptic they have as a country. You measure a country by its values. You measure a country by who those people are, and that is what this debate is going to be all about, and why the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Moran], the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. Burton], the gentleman from South Carolina [Mr. Spratt], and I and many others have been working so hard on this issue over the last month. Mr. Chairman, this amendment will give every parent in the United States a violence chip in their television set, so that they will be able to block out excessively violent and sexually explicit programming that they believe is inappropriate for their 2-year-old, 3-year-old, 4- year-old, 6-year-old, 8-year-old and adolescent children. All of the ratings will be done voluntarily by the broadcasters. There is no mandate. There is no enforcement mechanism. There is absolutely no connective tissue between this bill and any first amendment violation. The only objective we have is to give power to parents in their own living rooms, not ``big brother'' in New York City, programming hundreds of television programs a week, but ``big mother'' and ``big father'' in every living room, protecting their own children every day of the week. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield my remaining 1 minute to the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Dingell], the ranking member of the Committee on Commerce. (Mr. DINGELL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Minnesota [Mr. Oberstar]. (Mr. OBERSTAR asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina [Mr. Burr].

Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Bryant]. (Mr. BRYANT of Texas asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from California [Ms. Eshoo].

Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Mississippi [Mr. Montgomery].

Mr. MARKEY

Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Pittsburgh, PA [Mr. Klink].

Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Wynn].

Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, the amendment which we are now considering addresses one of the most fundamental changes which has ever been contemplated in the history of our country. The bill, as it is presented to the floor, repeals for all intents and purposes all the cross-ownership rules, all of the ownership limitation rules, which have existed since the 1970's, the 1960's, to protect against single companies being able to control all of the media in individual communities and across the country. In this bill it is made permissible for one company in your hometown to own the only newspaper, to own the cable system, to own every AM station, to own every FM station, to own the biggest television station and to own the biggest independent station, all in one community. That is too much media concentration for any one company to have in any city in the United States. This amendment deals with a slice of that. The amendment to deal with all of it was not put in order by the Committee on Rules when it was requested as an amendment, but it does deal with a part of it. It would put a limitation on how many television stations, CBS, ABC, NBC, and Fox could own across our country, how many local TV stations, and whether or not in partnership with cable companies individual TV stations being owned by cable companies at the local level could partner to create absolutely impossible obstacles for the other local television broadcasters to overcome. Who do we have supporting our amendment? We have just about every local CBS, ABC, and NBC affiliate in the United States that supports this amendment. We do not have ABC, CBS, and NBC in New York because they want to gobble up all the rest of America. This would be unhealthy, it would run contrary to American traditons of localism and diversity that have many voices, especially those at the local level that can serve as well as a national voice but with a balance. Vote for the Markey amendment to keep limits on whether or not the national networks can gobble up the whole rest of the country and whether or not in individual cities and towns cable companies can purchase the biggest TV station or the biggest TV station can purchase the cable company and create an absolute block on other stations having the same access to viewers, having the same ability to get their point of view out as does that cable broadcasting combination in your hometown. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.