[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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