Senator Tom Cotton (R.A.) called for Republican senators filibuster of the National Defense Authorization Act. This was in protest at the move by congressional leadership to attach the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act to the bill.
Cotton stated that Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker (D.CA), and Chuck Schumer (D.NY) have been holding the bill “hostage” and are moving to add “all sorts of extraneous antidefense measures” to the bill. These include the JCPA, the SAFE Banking Act which would allow banks and other financial institutions to handle marijuana-related business; and Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D.WV) natural gas-and-oil permitting bill as a reward to him for voting for the Inflation Reduction Act.
Cotton referred the JCPA to as a “payoff to liberal media companies to create a cartel in order to work with large tech that will harm center-right outlets.”
Arkansas’ conservative leader called on the Senate to filibuster the bill if Democrats insist upon adding these unnecessary measures to the defense authorization bill.
Cotton stated:
If Democrats insist on adding extraneous provisions to the bill, Republican Senators should filibuster. House Republicans, whose votes are required to pass it in Congress, should not vote for the bill either until Democrats stop trying to add them to it.
Cotton is just one of ten Republican “patriots”, who opposed the advancement and implementation of the JCPA. Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R–TN), Mike Lee, (R–UT), Ron Johnson(R-WI), Steve Daines (“R-MT”) Marco Rubio (R–FL), and Josh Hawley (“R-MO”) are some others.
Allum Bokhari, senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News wrote:
This bill has been passed by the media industry, fully aware of the fact that they could receive hundreds of millions to billions in Big Tech money if it passes. The media industry has used its enormous influence with politicians over the past two decades to pass this bill, but has failed repeatedly to do so.