[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1779 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1779

 To authorize the establishment of ``Radio Free Afghanistan'', and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            December 6, 2001

 Mr. Biden (for himself and Mr. Helms) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To authorize the establishment of ``Radio Free Afghanistan'', and for 
                            other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Radio Free Afghanistan Act''.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF RADIO FREE AFGHANISTAN.

    (a) Requirement of a Detailed Plan.--Not later than 15 days after 
the date of enactment of this Act, RFE/RL, Incorporated, shall submit 
to the Broadcasting Board of Governors a report setting forth a 
detailed plan for the provision by RFE/RL, Incorporated, of surrogate 
broadcasting services in the Dari and Pashto languages to Afghanistan. 
Such broadcasting services shall be known as ``Radio Free 
Afghanistan''.
    (b) Grant Authority.--
            (1) In general.--Effective 15 days after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, or the date on which the report required 
        by subsection (a) is submitted, whichever is later, the 
        Broadcasting Board of Governors is authorized to make grants to 
        support Radio Free Afghanistan.
            (2) Supersedes existing limitation on total annual grant 
        amounts.--Grants made to RFE/RL, Incorporated, during the 
        fiscal year 2002 for support of Radio Free Afghanistan may be 
        made without regard to section 308(c) of the United States 
        International Broadcasting Act of 1994 (22 U.S.C. 6207(c)).
    (c) Available Authorities.--In addition to the authorities in this 
Act, the authorities applicable to carry out United States Government 
broadcasting activities under the United States Information and 
Educational Exchange Act of 1948, the United States International 
Broadcasting Act of 1994, the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring 
Act of 1998, and other provisions of law consistent with such purpose 
may be used to carry out the grant authority of subsection (b).

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) In General.--In addition to such amounts as are otherwise 
available for such purposes, the following amounts are authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out United States Government broadcasting 
activities under the United States Information and Educational Exchange 
Act of 1948, the United States International Broadcasting Act of 1994, 
the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998, and this Act, 
and to carry out other authorities in law consistent with such 
purposes:
            (1) For ``International Broadcasting Operations'', 
        $8,000,000 for the fiscal year 2002.
            (2) For ``Broadcasting Capital Improvements'', $9,000,000 
        for the fiscal year 2002.
    (b) Availability of Funds.--Amounts appropriated pursuant to 
subsection (a) are authorized to remain available until expended.

SEC. 4. REPEAL OF BAN ON UNITED STATES TRANSMITTER IN KUWAIT.

    Section 226 of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal 
Years 1994 and 1995 (Public Law 103-236; 108 Stat. 423), is repealed.
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