The Majority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives has told a Salem Media talk host that a much-awaited vote of the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act will be seen on the House floor at the start of next week. And, it was getting the legislation incorporated into an approve-or-else transportation bill that prompted Steve Scalise to instead schedule a vote on the bill.
Speaking with Hugh Hewitt, Scalise (R-La.) says President Trump is ready to sign the Act, and expressed hope that legislators on Capitol Hill will fast-track the bill into law.
Getting to this point is the direct result of a move to incorporate the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act into the mandatory-to-approve federal transportation bill that got the original standalone version scheduled for a vote instead. “That [transportation] bill ran into problems, and so what I did is I made a decision. I’m bringing that bill to the floor,” Scalise said Friday on The Hugh Hewitt Show, a syndicated radio show also distributed via the Salem News Channel video offering.
Scalise drew on his own experience with Hurricane Katrina, which devasted New Orleans 21 years ago, to explain the bill’s public-safety rationale. “When Hurricane Katrina hit, everything, you had power out for three weeks,” he said. “The only way people were getting information was from their AM radios. They literally had their batteries in their old AM radios or in their car, and you turn your car on, and that’s how you were able to find out what was going on.”
That history, he said, is why the bill matters as cars change. “It’s critical that we keep this line of communication open on cars as they’re being made differently in the future,” Scalise said. “Let cars be made with even more technology, but we need to make sure they also have AM radio in them. That’s what this bill will ensure.”
As for the road forward, Scalise voiced optimism that the House vote will build momentum for Senate action. “Hopefully this is a bill that’s going to have a big enough vote where you’ll see the Senate be able to take it up,” Scalise said. “But let’s get all of our senators ready to go.”
The Senate returns from its own extended recess the very week of September 14, giving the AM Act a narrow window to clear both chambers before lawmakers leave town again for nearly all of October and the first week of November ahead of the midterms.
“I was talking to the president about this bill last night, and I let him know that it was coming up, and he was excited about it, so he’s ready to sign this bill,” Scalise added.
In July, the president told Hewitt during a call-in to the show he was “very much onto [the AM for Every Vehicle Act]” and “we’re pushing it hard.”
Closing the interview with Scalise, Hewitt urged listeners to contact their representatives ahead of the vote. “Everybody ought to be calling their congressman to vote for that bill,” he said. “We need to pass it.”
