Many US. House and Senate members turned to social media sites to voice opposition against SOPA.
At the start of Wednesday, we published a list with four Silicon Prairie politicians who had, according to ProPublica, publicly shown or stated their support of the Stop Online Piracy Act (“SOPA”) or the Protect IP Act (“PIPA”).* As of 4 p.m. today, there were no known public supporters of the bills among the 29 U.S. House and Senate members from Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. More than half have publicly come out against the legislation, either through an official release, social media site or interview.
Below is a rundown, state by state, of current political support or opposition of SOPA (the bill in the House) and PIPA (the bill in the Senate). Noted below are the sources of each member’s public statement, many of which came through Twitter or Facebook.
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For more on SOPA and PIPA and the results of Wednesday’s online “SOPA Strike,” which included companies in the Silicon Prairie blacking out their websites, check out our story yesterday along with the latest headlines from around the web on TechMeme.
Note: Names linked to pages on ProPublica with historical data and contact information (including Twitter) for each politician.
Iowa
Oppose
- Rep. Bruce Braley: “Over 800 Iowans have already contacted me expressing their opposition to SOPA, telling me it threatens free speech online. I agree.” – Braley release (Jan. 18)
- Sen. Charles E. Grassley: “The current Protect IP Act needs more due diligence, analysis, and substantial changes. As it stands right now, I can’t support the bill moving forward next week.” – Grassley release (Jan. 18)
- Rep. Tom Latham: “It is worthy to protect intellectual property – but not at the cost of free speech. I oppose SOPA or any bill abridging freedom of speech.” – Latham on Twitter (Jan. 18)
Stance unknown
- Rep. Leonard L. Boswell
- Sen. Tom Harkin – “Sen. Tom Harkin’s director of communications, Kate Cyrul, said the Democrat continues to review the legislation.” – Des Moines Register (Updated 4:35 p.m.)
- Rep. Steve King
- Rep. Dave Loebsack
Kansas
Oppose
- Rep. Tim Huelskamp: “I believe the PROTECT IP Act [the House version of SOPA] is an overreach on the part of the federal government” – National Review Online (Jan. 18)
- Rep. Lynn Jenkins: “Copyright infringements and online piracy are legitimate issues that should and can be addressed, but we need to do it without fundamentally destroying the internet as we know it.” – Jenkins on Facebook (Jan. 18)
- Sen. Jerry Moran: “Sign the Petition to Stop SOPA and PIPA!” – Moran petition (Withdrew co-sponsorship of PIPA on June 27)
- Rep. Mike Pompeo: “I am very concerned about restricting free speech & harming the openness & innovation of the internet. I am opposed to #SOPA in current form” – Pompeo on Twitter (Jan. 18)
- Sen. Pat Roberts: “Put me down for NO. The current #SOPA and #PIPA bills could destroy online entrepreneurship and innovation.” – Roberts on Twitter (Jan. 18)
- Rep. Kevin Yoder: “SOPA would be overly burdensome on free speech and would stifle the creative energy that drives the internet. Congress needs to support innovation and job creation – not limit it.” – Yoder on Facebook (Jan. 18)
Stance unknown
- None
Missouri
Oppose
- Rep. Todd Akin: “Copyrights must be protected, but not at this cost. Open internet and free speech!” – Akin on Twitter (Jan. 18)
- Sen. Roy Blunt: “The right to free speech is one of the most basic foundations that makes our nation great, and I strongly oppose sanctioning Americans’ right to free speech in any medium – including over the internet.” – Blunt release (Jan. 18)
- Sen. Claire McCaskill: “I was not a co sponsor of PIPA. I cannot support it in its current form.I will post blog on my Tmblr later to explain. #PIPA” – McCaskill on Twitter (Jan. 19)
- Rep. Sam Graves: “I wanted to let you know that I do not support the current version of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). The bill is being rewritten and I’ll wait to see if it corrects the flaws in the current version.” – Graves on Facbeook (Jan. 18) (Updated Jan. 25, orginally published as “stance unknown”)
Stance unknown
- Rep. Russ Carnahan
- Rep. William Lacy Clay
- Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II
- Rep. Jo Ann Emerson
- Rep. Vicky Hartzler
- Rep. Billy Long
- Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer
Nebraska
Oppose
- Rep. Jeff Fortenberry: “I oppose #SOPA–it would disrupt the structural integrity of the internet, a core component of our telecommunications infrastructure” – Fortenberry on Twitter (Jan. 18)
- Sen. Mike Johanns: “Sen. Mike Johanns told the Journal Star on Wednesday they won’t support the bill.” – Lincoln Journal Star (Jan. 18)
- Rep. Lee Terry: “Rep. Lee Terry said Tuesday that he will pull his name as a co-sponsor of a heavily debated bill that has taken aim at online piracy and intellectual property protection.” (Jan. 18) – Omaha World-Herald (Jan. 18)
Stance unknown
- Sen. Ben Nelson: “Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., both expressed the need to curb piracy, but they didn’t take a stance on the legislation.” – Lincoln Journal Star (Jan. 18)
- Rep. Adrian Smith: “Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., both expressed the need to curb piracy, but they didn’t take a stance on the legislation.” – Lincoln Journal Star (Jan. 18)
Image credits: Screenshots from Facebook and Twitter of the following: Jenkins, Yoder, Roberts, Fortenberry and McCaskill.
*Correction: In our Wednesday post on PIPA supporters, ProPublic’s quoted data showed Sen. Claire McCaskill was in support of PIPA. This was misunderstood and ProPublic has since clarified its data with an update. Today, McCaskill publicly opposed PIPA. We have updated our previous post.
