House Appropriations Subcommittee to Block FCC’s Political Ad rule

The House Appropriations subcommittee voted to block disclosure of political TV ad buyers online, The Hill's Erik Wasson and Brendan Sasso reported this morning. Rep. José Serrano (D-N.Y.) offered an amendment to strip out the language blocking the ad rule according to Wasson and Sasso, but his amendment lost the vote, 4 to 8. In the report, committee member, Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) said,

“It is obvious what this is all about and it is embarrassing, frankly. It looks like you are trying to cover up the fact that these fat cats are coming into these elections and they don’t want their names known.”

Following this decision, in an email from FreePress, Tim Karr wrote,

With their bottomless reserve of lobbyists and money, broadcasters are betting they can muscle their way into Congress and reverse a victory that tens of thousands of us fought hard to win....And their bet has just paid off.

Included in the email is a link to this letter demanding that Congress "serve the public and not media lobbyists."

"In the post-Citizens United era," wrote Karr, "we can't let broadcasters hide their political profits."