Does the PRESS Act Really Protect ‘Deep-State Traitors’ and ‘Fame-Hungry Journalists,’ as Tom Cotton Argues?

Earlier this year, the Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying Act (PRESS Act) passed the Republican-controlled House. However, following President-elect Donald Trump’s directive on TruthSocial to “kill the bill!” last month, the GOP’s stance shifted dramatically. On Tuesday, a Senate Republican blocked the bill. 

The PRESS Act is purported to shield journalists from government coercion to reveal their sources and to restrict unwarranted data seizures. Oregon’s Democrat Senator Ron Wyden brought legislation up for a unanimous consent vote, while Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) did the usual hyperbole about fortifying against incoming President-elect Donald Trump (as if we didn’t watch him yap it up with the “big orange threat to democracy” at the Al Smith dinner in October). 

But okay, back to the political theater. 

Trump having a friendly conversation with Chuck Schumer at the Al Smith dinner. This is the guy they say is going to start rounding up his enemies on day one?

Kamala could/would never chat it up with Ted Cruz or Jim Jordan like this.

Want the nation to heal? Elect Trump. pic.twitter.com/oUxvbKKBnl

— Free (@KaladinFree) October 19, 2024

Schumer argued that the passage of the bill was:

more important now than ever before when we’ve heard some in the previous administration talk about going after the press in one way or another.

As he did in 2022, Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) single-handedly blocked the bill under the unanimous consent procedure, where just one objection can halt the process. Defending his stance, Cotton argued on the Senate floor that the legislation posed a substantial threat to U.S. national security, alleging it would make the Senate:

into the active accomplice of deep-state leakers, traitors, and criminals, along with the America-hating and fame-hungry journalists who help them out.

Cotton also called the legislation:

the biggest giveaway to the liberal press in American history.

Tom Cotton defends his opposition to the PRESS Act by citing journalism during the Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan wars which exposed to Americans that their government was lying to them about the state of the campaigns pic.twitter.com/uhGieLY80R

— a newsman (@a_newsman) December 10, 2024

While Cotton vehemently opposes the bill, a closer look reveals substantial Republican backing. Authored by GOP Rep. Kevin Kiley of California, it passed the House without a single dissenting vote.

I am grateful that the House passed my bill, the PRESS Act, today which protects journalists from being compelled to disclose their sources. Liberty depends on the freedom of the press. Journalists are often the first to expose government fraud, waste, abuse and encroachments on… pic.twitter.com/Gy1YLnthS5

— Rep. Kevin Kiley (@RepKiley) January 18, 2024

The legislation was also promoted by Catherine Herridge, both in testimony to the Judiciary Committee in April, and during a compelling discussion with Tucker Carlson about her own experiences with CBS News, during an episode titled “Press Act can save the country.“

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Perhaps, once the hyperbolic “Trump-proofing” rhetoric subsides, this bipartisan piece of legislation can receive the fair reconsideration it deserves, focusing purely on its merits to preserve the Fourth Estate’s role in our democracy.