Hopes in the Senate for decency legislation appeared dim Wed. as ...

Hopes in the Senate for decency legislation appeared dim Wed. as Sen. Brownback’s (R-Kan.) spokesman released a statement that said the senator likely would wait until next year to reintroduce decency legislation in the 109th congressional session. “It is highly likely that Senator Brownback will reintroduce the bill as soon as the Senate comes back in session in January,” Brownback’s spokesman said. Supporters of decency legislation remained hopeful that some form of legislation that would increase FCC decency fines could move this week as Congress works in a “lame-duck” session. But Brownback’s spokesman said “poison pill amendments” hurt a bill that would have passed had they been left off. A Senate source said up to 6 Democratic senators had placed holds on the bill due to concerns about a provision that would place fines on artists. The House earlier this year passed legislation that would raise FCC indecency fines to up to $500,000 per incident. The Senate Commerce Committee also approved legislation that would raise fines, but leaders were unable to bring the bill to the floor. Brownback led efforts to attach the legislation to the Defense Dept. Authorization Bill, which passed without decency legislation. Brownback tried to salvage the compromise reached between House members, who wanted a more aggressive bill, and some senators, who had concerns about fines being applied directly to artists and about provisions that would automatically trigger license revocation hearings. Brownback tried to amend the House bill with a compromise reached during DoD Authorization Bill discussions, but no vote on the bill has been scheduled.