The text of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which was disclosed on Tuesday evening, reveals that the law would have established cartels with the capacity to engage in collective bargaining with major technology firms.
News that the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) was removed from the text of the NDAA came just days after congressional leaders had agreed to include it.
Congressional lawmakers were reportedly surprised at the development which came after a harsh pushback from conservatives.
Conservatives were shocked that leaders had agreed to include the JCPA in the National Defense Authorization Act. This criticism came in the wake of reports that Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell had capitulated to Democrats on this NDAA.
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
Reason senior editor Elizabeth Nolan Brown weighed in saying the change was, “The worst ideas in Congress never die; they just get sneaked into unrelated bills.” The journalist went on to explain, “that means lawmakers are reportedly trying to burrow a bad media protectionism bill into defense spending authorization.”
Fox News anchor Laura Ingraham called the push to add the JCPA to a defense spending bill “disturbing,” asserting that “this defense bill will, as usual, be so long, and the text released so late that few members will actually read it, and even fewer tally up all the waste.”
The Fox host went on to explain what was in the act saying, “it will allow media companies – most owned by wealthy conglomerates – to form negotiating cartels to secure special favors from Big Tech companies, including some financial handouts. Don’t for a second think that they hadn’t planned this all. Staff on the hill and at the White House have undoubtedly been working away at all of this nonsense for probably most of the last year.”
