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Senator ROCKEFELLER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The CHAIRMAN. Senator Gorton?
Senator GORTON. No questions, Mr. Chairman.
The CHAIRMAN. Senator Exon?
Senator EXON. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much.
I have been around here a while and I have been through many
hearings in many committees, including Armed Services on the
MX missile, the strategic defense initiative, Commerce Committee
on a whole wide range of deregulation, Budget Committee with
regard to the national debt and what we are going to do about
cutting down expenditures of the Federal Government. This is the
largest media event, both in this room and the people waiting
outside, that I have ever seen.
I want to first congratulate you ladies for coming here and testifying
on the concerns which you have. It seems to me that this
should be voluntarily worked out without Federal legislation and
without regulations.
Rock music does not appeal to me at all, but it does to my kids
and it does to my grandchildren. Therefore, I agree generally with
the thesis that has been brought forth here this morning, that in
the arts, even though that term might be used loosely the way I
view
I do happen to believe, though, that you were correct in the
thrust, I believe, of what we saw this morning, some of which was
personally offensive to me and other things that were not. We all
have our own individual goals, I guess, and how we view those.
I guess a key question that I would like to ask you is, if there is
one thing that has come through loud and clear to me at least, it is
that you do not want Federal legislation and you do not want Federal
regulation, at least at this time. Is that correct?
Mrs. GORE. Yes, that is correct. We do not want legislation to
remedy this problem. The problem is one that developed in the
marketplace. The music industry has allowed the excesses that you
saw and we believe the music industry is the entity to address
those excesses. We would like them to do this voluntarily. We propose
no legislative solution whatsoever.
Senator EXON. When you say legislation, do you also include the
term that I use, regulation?
Mrs. GORE. Yes.
Senator EXON. Well, given that and given what I think I tried to
put forth as my feelings on this, Mr. Chairman, I suppose it is nice
to have these hearings and discuss these things, because I think it
is a concern. But I wonder, Mr. Chairman, if we are not talking
about Federal regulation and we are not talking about Federal
legislation, what is the reason for these hearings in front of the
Commerce Committee?
Can anyone answer that? I did not schedule these hearings. I am
glad to be here to take part in them. But sometimes I wonder why
these media events are scheduled and for what possible reason, if
we are not being asked to do anything about it.
The CHAIRMAN. I think that the point is that there are problems
that exist in the country that are not necessarily solved by legislation
. . .
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