Friends-
At 5:30 this morning, the Commerce State Justice
Appropriations bill was submitted to both houses of
Congress. This bill includes a rider (S. 3020) that guts
the FCC’s Low Power Radio proposal. The House is scheduled
to vote on the package later today, with the Senate voting
tonight.
As things stand right now, the President will veto the
bill. We are hopeful that his veto message to Congress
includes LPFM as one of the reasons for the veto – we will
know in a few hours. If the President vetos the bill, then
there will be a final negotiation between the Republican
leadership and the White House, then a new bill be will
brought before Congress early next week. We need the White
House to stand firm in support of LPFM.
Regardless, this is the final showdown. If the bill goes
through with the rider, LPFM is essentially toast. It will
take a number of significant victories in the November
election for LPFM to have any credible short-term future
(Gore over Bush and a Democratic house, for two).
Please, please, please:
Call and email your congressman and senators TODAY! Tell
them this back-door attempt to override the long public
process held by the FCC is totally unacceptable. You can
get contact information for your representatives from this
site: http://congress.nw.dc.us/lpr
Please spread the word. 10,000 emails to congress may be
our last best chance to preserve the FCC plan.
Best,
Michael Bracy
Low Power Radio Coalition
mbracy@bracywilliams.com
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