Short but sweet, courtesy of Levin’s producer, Richard. The words “Fairness Doctrine” are never uttered here, actually, which may be significant: As I understand it, Congress doesn’t have to do anything to bring the doctrine back. That was an FCC rule, from birth to death, and thus presumably could be reinstated by the FCC once three of the five commissioners are Democratic appointees — which might happen as early as June. As such, the trick for Sessions isn’t pulling 41 votes together to block a bill, it’s pulling 60 votes together to pass a bill stripping away any new Fairness rules imposed by the FCC. (Or 67 votes, if you think The One would veto it.) Anyone see 19 Democrats signing up?
Remember, Mike Pence tried to get a jump on this by pushing a bill through the House in 2007 denying the FCC funding for that year if it tried to bring back Fairness. It passed overwhelmingly. But when he introduced a second bill to ban Fairness permanently, not one Democrat signed on. I wonder why.
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