President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday ordered congressional Republicans to block a widely popular bill aimed at protecting press freedoms, ending any chance the U.S. Senate will approve the legislation.

THE measure would limit surveillance of journalists by federal law enforcement and the government’s ability to force disclosure of journalists’ sources, codifying regulations the Justice Department put in place under President Joe Biden.

The House Judiciary Committee unanimously approved it last year, and it passed the House by voice vote in January.

“REPUBLICS MUST KILL THIS BILL!” » Trump wrote on his social media site: Social truthin capital letters Wednesday, linking to a PBS segment on the measure.

It usually takes a long time for the Senate to circumvent the process that allows a single member to delay the business of the House. With Democrats prioritizing confirmation of Biden’s judicial nominees before losing their majority in January, they are unlikely to vote on the measure without unanimous consent of all 100 senators.

Trump’s influence within the Senate Republican Conference makes achieving unanimous consensus extremely unlikely.

The bill’s House sponsor, California Republican Kevin Kiley, accepted the bill’s defeat in a statement released Thursday.

“Based on the comments we received from senators and President Trump, it is clear that we have work to do to reach consensus on this issue,” he said. “I look forward to working with the new administration on many common areas as we begin a new era of American prosperity.”

A spokesperson for Kiley declined to provide further details on the senators’ comments on the measure. A spokesperson for the U.S. Senate Judiciary, Republican Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, did not respond to a message seeking comment.

In the House, 19 members from both parties, including Republicans Barry Moore of Alabama, Darrell Issa of California, Russell Fry of South Carolina and Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota and Democrats Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Ted Lieu of California and Rashida Tlaib and Dan Kildee. of Michigan, have signed on as co-sponsors.

Protection of local journalists

Jon Schleuss, president of The NewsGuild-CWA, a national journalists’ union that supported the bill, noted in a statement from Thursday it would protect news sources across the political spectrum.

“Americans would not know about the corruption of former Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez or former Republican Rep. George Santos without the hard work of local journalists to hold those in power accountable,” he said. “We all depend on journalism, especially local journalism, to shed light and protect Americans from threats, both foreign and domestic. The PRESS law protects all voices: sources of information, whistleblowers and the journalists they speak to in all media.

In a statement to States Newsroom on Thursday, Gabe Rottman, political director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, called the bill a “reasonable, common-sense measure” with broad bipartisan support.

“Its passage would end actions taken by the Justice Department under previous administrations of both parties to target confidential communications of journalists during investigations and prosecutions involving the disclosure of government information,” he wrote . “We urge Congress to recognize that there is still a need for a legislative solution to this problem.”

Press advocacy groups have expressed concerns about Trump’s return to the White House, citing a record in his first term that included surveillance and legal threats against journalists and news organizations.

Seeking retaliation

In the final days of the presidential race, Trump fantasized out loud about journalists being shot.

Press freedom groups also fear that Trump’s promises to use the federal bureaucracy to seek retaliation against perceived enemies could extend to journalists.

“In his second term, Trump will carry out these anti-press threats in an attempt to destroy any news outlet, journalist or whistleblower who criticizes or opposes him,” said Seth Stern, director advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation. written in a blog post from November 6.

Stern added that Trump would “almost certainly” repeal the surveillance protections that the Justice Department put in place during President Joe Biden’s term.

Last updated at 5:08 p.m., November 21, 2024