[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3104 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3104

   To permanently authorize Radio Free Asia, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 11, 2010

 Mr. Lugar (for himself, Mr. Kaufman, Mr. Franken, Mr. Inouye, and Mr. 
Risch) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 
                 to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To permanently authorize Radio Free Asia, 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. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Radio Free Asia (referred to in this Act as ``RFA'')--
                    (A) was authorized under section 309 of the United 
                States International Broadcasting Act of 1994 (22 
                U.S.C. 6208);
                    (B) was incorporated as a private, non-profit 
                corporation in March 1996 in the hope that its 
                operations would soon be obviated by the global 
                advancement of democracy; and
                    (C) is headquartered in Washington, DC, with 
                additional offices in Bangkok, Hong Kong, Phnom Penh, 
                Seoul, Ankara, and Taipei.
            (2) RFA broadcasts serve as substitutes for indigenous free 
        media in regions lacking free media outlets.
            (3) The mission of RFA is ``to provide accurate and timely 
        news and information to Asian countries whose governments 
        prohibit access to a free press'' in order to enable informed 
        decisionmaking by the people within Asia.
            (4) RFA provides daily broadcasts of news, commentary, 
        analysis, and cultural programming to Asian countries in 
        several languages, including--
                    (A) 12 hours per day in Mandarin;
                    (B) 8 hours per day in 3 Tibetan dialects, Uke, 
                Kham, and Amdo;
                    (C) 4 hours per day in Korean and Burmese;
                    (D) 2 hours per day in Cantonese, Vietnamese, 
                Laotian, Khmer (Cambodian), and Uyghur; and
                    (E) 1\1/2\ hours per week in Wu (local Shanghai 
                dialect).
            (5) The governments of the countries targeted for these 
        broadcasts have consistently denied and blocked attempts at 
        Medium Wave and FM transmissions into their countries, forcing 
        RFA to rely on Shortwave broadcasts and the Internet.
            (6) RFA has provided continuous online news to its Asian 
        audiences since 2004, although some countries--
                    (A) routinely and aggressively block RFA's website;
                    (B) monitor access to RFA's website; and
                    (C) discourage online users by making it illegal to 
                access RFA's website.
            (7) Despite these attempts, RFA has successfully managed to 
        reach its online audiences through proxies, cutting-edge 
        software, and active republication and repostings by its 
        audience.
            (8) RFA also provides forums for local opinions and 
        experiences through message boards, podcasts, web logs (blogs), 
        cell phone-distributed newscasts, and new media, including 
        Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, and YouTube.
            (9) Freedom House has documented that freedom of the press 
        is in decline in nearly every region of the world, particularly 
        in Asia, where none of the countries served by RFA have 
        increased their freedom of the press during the past 5 years.
            (10) As documented in Freedom House's Index of Global Press 
        Freedom, which annually ranks the nations of the world on this 
        issue, between 2004 and 2009, out of 193 and 195 countries 
        rated for those years--
                    (A) China's ranking dropped from 173rd to 181st;
                    (B) Cambodia's ranking dropped from 127th to 132nd;
                    (C) Vietnam's ranking dropped from 178th to 179th;
                    (D) Laos' ranking dropped from 179th to 184th;
                    (E) Burma's ranking dropped from 190th to 193rd; 
                and
                    (F) North Korea's ranking remained dead last.
            (11) In fiscal year 2010, RFA is operating on a $37,000,000 
        budget to reach the approximately 1,500,000,000 people who live 
        within the countries served by RFA, less than $400,000 of which 
        is available to fund Internet censorship circumvention.
            (12) Independent media sources are nonexistent or severely 
        restrained in their operations in these areas where the press 
        often serves as a means to promote the government's agenda.
            (13) Congress currently provides grant funding for RFA's 
        operations on a fiscal year basis.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF THE SENATE.

    It is the sense of the Senate that--
            (1) public access to timely, uncensored, and accurate 
        information is imperative for achieving government 
        accountability and the protection of human rights;
            (2) Radio Free Asia provides a vital voice to people in 
        Asia;
            (3) in the 14 years since RFA was established, freedom of 
        the press in Asia has been reduced, as evidenced by the 
        inability of RFA to broadcast on AM or FM frequencies in the 
        countries served by RFA;
            (4) some of the governments in Asia spend millions of 
        dollars each year to jam RFA's shortwave, block its Internet 
        sites, and illegally access RFA's computer networks and user 
        files;
            (5) Congress should provide additional funding to RFA and 
        the other entities overseen by the Broadcasting Board of 
        Governors for--
                    (A) Internet censorship circumvention; and
                    (B) enhancement of their cyber security efforts; 
                and
            (6) permanently authorizing funding for Radio Free Asia 
        would--
                    (A) reflect the concern that media censorship and 
                press restrictions in the countries served by RFA have 
                increased since RFA was established; and
                    (B) send a powerful signal of our Nation's support 
                for free press in Asia and throughout the world.

SEC. 3. PERMANENT AUTHORIZATION FOR RADIO FREE ASIA.

    Section 309 of the United States International Broadcasting Act of 
1994 (22 U.S.C. 6208) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (c)(2), by striking ``, and shall further 
        specify that funds to carry out the activities of Radio Free 
        Asia may not be available after September 30, 2010'';
            (2) by striking subsection (f);
            (3) by redesignating subsections (g) and (h) as subsection 
        (f) and (g), respectively; and
            (4) in subsection (f), as redesignated--
                    (A) by striking ``The Board'' and inserting the 
                following:
            ``(1) Notification.--The Board'';
                    (B) by striking ``before entering'' and inserting 
                the following: ``before--
                    ``(A) entering'';
                    (C) by striking ``Radio Free Asia.'' and inserting 
                the following: ``Radio Free Asia; or
                    ``(B) entering into any agreements in regard to the 
                utilization of Radio Free Asia transmitters, equipment, 
                or other resources that will significantly reduce the 
                broadcasting activities of Radio Free Asia.'';
                    (D) by striking ``The Chairman'' and inserting the 
                following:
            ``(2) Consultation.--The Chairman''; and
                    (E) by inserting ``or Radio Free Asia broadcasting 
                activities'' before the period at the end.
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