No votes are expected in the coming weeks on a bill that would solidify AM radio’s position in vehicles as House members are back in their districts through the month of August. That is not surprising considering all of them are less than 100 days from finding out if they are keeping their jobs. And while that’s giving broadcasters an opportunity to lobby lawmakers face to face, back in Washington they will return to calls for them to get moving.
A coalition of a dozen conservative groups led by the American Principles Project is urging House Republican leaders to bring the proposed AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act to a vote as quickly as possible. The group calls the decision by some carmakers to remove AM radio “unnecessary and unjustified” and say such a move would eliminate “one of the most important communication tools available.”
The organizations say Sunday church services and Friday night high school football games are most likely to be found on the AM dial, with local information and events that help bind communities together. And with a large number of conservative talk radio stations also on AM, they fear a loss of in-car listening will do damage to a media outlet that has long played a role in political discourse.
“Some of the most influential Americans, from Martin Luther King Jr. to Rush Limbaugh, have broadcast on AM radio,” they tell lawmakers. “If you believe, as we do, that political speech is paramount to our success as a nation, maintaining this vital mode of debate is important to our national future.”
The letter, first reported by Daily Signal, was also signed by Salem Media Group and the National Religious Broadcasters. In addition to political content, it also points out the continued role AM plays in dissemination of information during a natural disaster or national emergency.
There remains broad, bipartisan support for the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act (H.R. 3413), which would still require AM in cars but would give some automakers more time to comply. Support has grown in recent days to 256 House members who say they are onboard, with Reps. Laurel Lee (R-FL) and Julia Letlow (R-LA) joining the list of co-sponsors.
The bill has already made progress in the Senate, where a majority of 62 lawmakers have said they support it. The Senate version (S. 1669) passed out of committee in July 2023 and is now in the hands of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). But he has dragged his heels on scheduling the bill for a final vote, despite having the super-majority required to overcome any potential filibuster.
Supporters say some fine-tuning is being done to the House bill, which remains pending in the Energy and Commerce Committee. Similar to the Senate bill, a new House version will require the Secretary of Transportation to issue a rule requiring access to AM broadcast stations in motor vehicles. If they don’t, carmakers could be fined. And prior to the effective date of the rule, manufacturers that do not include AM would be required to put a warning label on vehicles.
Automakers would have at least two years to comply with the rule, although some manufacturers that produce fewer than 40,000 passenger cars for sale in the U.S. would have at least four years to meet the requirement. The previous version of the House bill introduced in May 2023 did not include any timetable for when carmakers would need to meet the AM mandate.
Efforts in Washington are advancing even as carmakers have mostly resisted calls to voluntarily return AM to their vehicles. Tesla, BMW, Mazda, Volvo, Rivian, Volkswagen and others have opted to move forward with plans to remove AM access, while Ford has since reversed this decision and is implementing software updates to provide access to AM radios in 2023 models currently lacking it.
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