Every time I think it can't get any worse, something like this comes along.
New Cable TV Vouchers Ban Fox News
Written by Kevin Clayborne - Staff Writer
Tuesday, 14 August 2007
Cable remote[Washington, DC] Democrats' hard-fought battle to provide cable television to welfare recipients hit another snag yesterday when Republicans found a newly inserted provision that specifically excludes Fox News Channel from programming options.
"This clause was not in this bill last week," said Rep. Jim Clements, R-CO "I don't know whether someone thought they could slip this by us, or what, but this is getting to be a bit much."
The affected bill, a 3.5 billion dollar spending measure that proponents say is necessary to educate potential voters before the 2008 elections, has met with great resistance from conservative legislators on both sides of the aisle who portray it as just one more unnecessary entitlement tacked onto an already over-burdoned welfare system.
"The Federal Government is not obliged to provide people the ability to watch Sponge Bob Square Pants." Said Rep. Mitch Weyland, R-N.M., "This whole idea was bad from the beginning... it's a waste of taxpayer dollars."
"Contrary to what my friend from New Mexico thinks, this is not about entertainment. It's about education.," said Warren Billingsley, Democrat from Buffalo, New York, and co-sponsor of the 'Voter Education and Inclusion Act.'
Billingsley claims that without cable television, an irreplaceable source of political info and events, millions of voters nationwide will be disenfranchised from the process.
"We need to move beyond this notion that only the very rich should have access to the political process," he said. "We want the American people, all of the American people, to have the proper information before heading to the polls in 2008."
Asked why language was inserted to specifically bar Fox News Channel from programming, he replied, "Fox News isn't a source of proper information."
Republicans challenge the notion of educating the public through cable TV, citing that if it was about informing the public, Fox News would be included. Instead, under this legislation, premium channels such as HBO, Showtime, and the Playboy Channel are provided free of charge.
"This is just state-sponsored indoctrination in liberalism." Weyland said. "Democrats want to make sure that there's no balance in news reporting... the one thing they claim this is all about."
George W. Bush may make the entire issue academic. The President has promised to use his veto if the bill ever reaches his desk. Democrats do not appear to have enough votes to override that veto.
In the meantime, though, rhetoric is flying across the aisles in Washington, accusations of underhanded tactics are being leveled, and political analysts say that Democrats will likely continue to push for the exclusion of Rupert Murdoch's popular news network in this bill.
One analyst, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, "The last thing the Dems want is a channel many of them call the 'mouthpiece for the Republican Party' poisoning a pool of voters they consider to be their constituents... bought and paid for."
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