White House Wants to Strip 35% Cap
By Ted Hearn -- Multichannel News, 7/24/2003 2:11:00 PM
The White House issued another warning Thursday that it opposed legislative attempts to overturn relaxed broadcast-ownership rules adopted in June by the Federal Communications Commission.
On Wednesday, ignoring White House veto threats, the House passed a spending bill 400-21 that included a provision limiting a TV-station group to reaching no more than 35% of TV households nationally.
With the support of ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox, the GOP-controlled FCC raised the cap to 35% at its June 2 meeting.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters traveling to Philadelphia with President Bush that the administration hoped to strip the 35% cap when House and Senate lawmakers meet in conference to prepare a uniform bill.
"We are going to work with Congress to try and fix that in conference," McClellan said, according to Reuters.
On Monday, Office of Management and Budget director Joshua Bolton told House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.) that if the 35% cap passed Congress, President Bush's "senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill."
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