Florida Democratic Senator Bill Nelson came to pick a fight at the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation “Oversight of the Federal Communications Commission” hearing March 12, 2013 at 2:45 p.m. During his C-Span moment, Nelson cited an FCC rule requiring that broadcast ads, "fully and fairly disclose the true identity" of their financiers, and wondered why the commission was not living up to this edict. Political ads currently identify the sponsoring group, but Nelson wants the public to know who the individuals are behind the groups with the All-American names that are currently disclosed. The FCC's five commissioners all said that they supported transparency, but avoided any specific change of the current limited disclosure. Texas Republican Ted Cruz thought Nelson was trying to create an end run around the Disclose Act's 59-vote failure to pass the Senate four years ago, and said the FCC should stay out of partisan politics. The meeting ended with Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D, WV) announcing a classified briefing on government use of spectrum Tue., March 19.
free103point9 News Report about hearing. Report includes recordings from Commerce Committee live webstream of Sens. Nelson and Cruz. (5:16, mp3)
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