Severe Blowback on Effort to Include Media Cartel Bill JCPA in Defense Bill Forces Congressional Leaders to Remove from BillAllum Bokhari and Matthew Boyle 6 Dec 2022
Congressional leaders stripped from the annual defense package a controversial proposal that would have allowed media organizations to create cartels to collectively bargain with Big Tech companies, text of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) released on Tuesday evening shows.
The revelation that the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) has been stripped from the text of the NDAA after congressional leaders had agreed to include it just days ago is a massive development that comes after congressional leaders were caught off guard by the swift and severe blowback to the effort, Breitbart News has learned.
The removal of the proposal is a massive win for conservatives after sweeping criticism from across the political spectrum came in in the wake of reports that Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell had caved to Democrats on this, but particularly criticism among Republicans, who were shocked leaders had agreed to include the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
Several GOP senators joined in the chorus of critics in public and in private, ripping the push to shred and delay the release of the NDAA’s final text by more than a full day and throwing the final weeks of this lame duck Congress into disarray.
Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell in particular, multiple sources with knowledge of the matter told Breitbart News, was caught flat-footed in response after he had this weekend acquiesced to demands from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to include the JCPA in the NDAA. Only House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy, the likely next Speaker of the House, was fighting it all along among the vaunted “Four Corners”–the so-called four leaders of the two chambers of Congress.
When Breitbart News broke the story on Monday morning, though, that McCarthy was outvoted three to one among the congressional leaders on this matter, pandemonium broke out among opponents of the JCPA, especially those on the right.
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https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/12/06/severe-blowback-on-effort-to-include-media-cartel-bill-jcpa-in-defense-bill-forces-congressional-leaders-to-remove-from-bill/
