Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) is calling on his fellow Republican senators to filibuster the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) after it was revealed that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell caved into Democrats’ demands to latch the controversial Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) onto the bill.
McConnell is voting to destroy conservative media, ensuring that Republicans never win anything significant again, so that he can continue to enjoy power and perks into his dotage. This is a firing offense, if the Senate Republican caucus had any backbone. https://t.co/KUkLLzZDhs
— Joel Pollak (@joelpollak) December 5, 2022
Congressional leadership made the move despite pushback from members of both parties, with House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) — who is expected to become Speaker of the House when Republicans regain control of the chamber in January — being the only member of leadership to speak out against it.
According to Cotton, outgoing Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) are holding the NDAA “hostage” by adding “all kinds of extraneous nondefense measures” including the JCPA; the SAFE Banking Act, which would allow banks to handle finances for marijuana-related businesses; and Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) natural gas and oil permitting bill, which was a reward for the moderate Democrats vote in favor of the so-called Inflation Reduction Act.
Cotton went on to refer to the JCPA as a “payoff for liberal media companies to form a cartel to work with big tech that will hurt center-right outlets.”
The Arkansas senator then called on his fellow Republicans to filibuster the NDAA in the Senate if Democrats insist on including these unrelated measures.
“If Democrats insist on adding these extraneous measures to the bill, Republican senators should filibuster, and frankly, House Republicans, whose votes are necessary to pass it in the House, should not vote for it either, until the Democrats back down and pass a defense bill that is actually focused on our national security and supporting the troops,” Cotton said.
Cotton has joined nine other Republican senators in fighting against the advancement of the media cartel bill, including 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).
Why are some Republicans working with Dems to destroy alternative media? This law gives Big Tech & the Corporate Media MORE censorship power. Strip it out of the NDAA!
Group of 10 GOP Patriots Push Back on McConnell, Democrat Push to Include JCPA in NDAAhttps://t.co/Qgcq9imNMk
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) December 6, 2022
This legislation has been backed by lobbyists and members of the legacy media, who are hoping for a major payout.
According to Breitbart News senior technology correspondent Allum Bokhari, “The media industry has thrown everything it has into passing this bill, well aware that there are hundreds of millions to billions of dollars of Big Tech money that could be funneled to them if it passes. Over the past two years, the media has fully deployed its vast clout with politicians, which extends across both parties, to get this legislation over the line, and has repeatedly failed to do so.”
