From the Office of Tom DeLay, March 2, 2004:
WASHINGTON - House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) today highlighted principles for decency on our public airwaves in a speech delivered before the National Association of Broadcasters.
"My message to everyone in the broadcast industry is this: the status quo will not stand," DeLay said. "I am not endorsing censorship or any content-based regulatory retribution, but the patience of the American people is approaching a breaking point.
"The current pressure on the broadcasting industry is not coming from some secret cabal of conservative politicians in an election year," DeLay said. "It is coming from American parents, most of whom were watching the Super Bowl broadcast and most of whom were appalled by it.
In the coming weeks, the House will consider measures to increase the financial penalties for broadcasting obscenity on public airwaves. These commonsense measures are already receiving wide-based, bipartisan support.
"The television industry, like every other industry, works best when it regulates and polices itself. But, if the entertainment industry cannot pull itself together and stay within some boundaries of decency, Congress will have no choice but to step in," DeLay said. "Make no mistake: if decision makers at studios, networks, and affiliates fail to appreciate the sensitivity of the post-Super Bowl environment, the consequences will not be merely economic."
