WASHINGTON – Sexually-explicit videos and magazines could not be sold or rented at defense facilities under a measure approved Tuesday by the Senate.
The amendment from Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Frederick, was adopted by the Senate as part of the final language of the defense authorization bill.
The measure passed the House Aug. 1 and will go next to President Clinton. The administration has stated that Clinton will sign the bill, which authorizes funds for military activities, including construction, for fiscal year 1997.
Bartlett said in an interview he objects to subsidized “smut,” which includes videos and printed material rented and sold in buildings paid for by taxpayers’ dollars. On military bases, the materials are sold tax free and 10 percent below the cover price, he said.
“This shameful and wasteful abuse of taxpayers’ money will soon come to an end,” Bartlett said.
Bartlett’s amendment does not apply to cable television or magazine subscriptions by individual military personnel.
His amendment would go into effect 90 days after it is signed into law.
The final report on the authorization bill passed the Senate, 73-26. Sen. Paul Sarbanes, D-Md., voted against the report; Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., voted for it. Neither could be reached Tuesday for comment. Clinton did not address Bartlett’s amendment, but in his weekly radio address Saturday, he did discuss the broader bill. “This bill makes good on our pledge to give our armed forces the finest equipment there is so that they have the technological edge to prevail on the battlefields of tomorrow,” he said. -30-