[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 156 (Tuesday, October 10, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S14947]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              OPPOSING CUTS IN INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING

 Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, on September 29, I was unable to 
voice my opposition to the amendment proposed by Senator Inouye that 
reduced funding for international broadcasting. There are many programs 
and institutions worthy of support, but I believe it was self-defeating 
to augment one at the expense of another, which is one of the most 
valuable instruments of American foreign policy--Radio Free Europe/
Radio Liberty.
  I come to this issue with a good deal of experience as to the 
importance of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The Radios, as they are 
commonly called, have set standards for objective journalism and 
analysis that are emulated and respected by news organizations and 
media across central Europe and the former Soviet Union.
  Many of the millions worldwide that listen to our U.S.-supported 
broadcasters live in countries where information and news continue to 
be controlled by the government. In these parts of the world, 
government information bureaus, government wire agencies, government 
radios and television channels continue to constrict the free passage 
of ideas.
  In an attempt to find offsetting funds in the bill, the sponsors of 
this amendment--naively and recklessly, in my opinion--would hobble an 
important instrument for promoting U.S. interests abroad. Last year, 
the Foreign Relations Committee, which authorizes funds for the Radios, 
debated and eventually agreed on a sensible plan to restructure and 
streamline the broadcasting programs.
  As we speak, Mr. President, U.S.-supported international broadcasting 
is becoming a more efficient and effective operation. The drastic cuts 
in this amendment, if left as is, will undermine the reform effort and 
will almost certainly force the elimination of important radio services 
around the world.
  Let's go over the International Broadcasting Act that this Congress 
enacted last year with bipartisan support as part of the State 
Department authorization bill. First, the act consolidated all the U.S. 
international broadcasting services and created a new broadcasting 
Board of Governors, which is now in place.
  Second, the plan called for reductions in Voice of America and Radio 
Free Europe/Radio Liberty broadcasts to Eastern Europe and the former 
Soviet Union by one-third. In the last year, over 1,250 jobs in 
programming, news gathering, broadcasting, and support services have 
been eliminated.
  Moving the headquarters of Radio Free Europe from Munich to Prague 
this fall, when completed, will reduce personnel costs by one-third. 
President Havel of the Czech Republic generously offered the Radios the 
use of the former Czechoslovak Parliament building at a symbolic fee of 
$12 per year.
  Overall, the plan will save well over $400 million by 1997.
  Moreover, Congress has directed that the funding of Radio Free 
Europe/Radio Liberty be assumed by the private sector by the end of the 
century. The radios are taking this seriously; indeed, the move to 
prague is a step on the path to privatization. The research arm of 
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has already been privatized.
  Mr. President, the president's fiscal 1996 request for international 
broadcasting is 20 percent lower than the 1994 level. The committee 
appropriation of $355 million is $40 million less than the President's 
request and $30 million less than the amount authorized by the Senate 
Foreign Relations Committee. In other words, international broadcasting 
is already facing severe reductions that will force the elimination of 
language services and hours of broadcasting.
  This further cut to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty could 
irreplaceably damage our ability to broadcast to areas of the world 
where the United States has important national security interests. It 
is my firm belief that in the post-cold war world the United States 
must retain diversity and choice in the means by which it conducts its 
foreign policy. Gutting the radios--on top of the drastic cuts to State 
Department operations in the bill--would severely limit U.S. 
flexibility in promoting our goals overseas.
  Once again, Mr. President, allow me to explain to my colleagues why 
the freedom radios are still as important today as they were during the 
last 40 years. Leaders such as Vaclav Havel, Lech Walesa, and Boris 
Yeltsin have all testified to the valuable contribution of Radio Free 
Europe/Radio Liberty in the demise of communism in Eastern Europe and 
the former Soviet Union.
  Democratic government and market economies have not yet fully taken 
root in these parts of the world. The radios now offer a dual role: to 
provide a model of how an independent media should function, and to 
keep honest those who might seek to reestablish repression of the 
press. A survey of leaders of the former Soviet empire by the open 
media research institute found that nearly three-quarters of the 
respondents felt strongly that Western radio broadcasts were still 
needed.
  Some 25 million listeners still tune in to Radio Free Europe/Radio 
Liberty. The radios provide critical information to the people of the 
former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe about the events in Chechnya and 
the former Yugoslavia. As you know, controlling the media and spreading 
disinformation are key strategies of the Bosnian Serb leaders, and in 
several new democracies there is only partial news freedom.
  While Voice of America tells America's story, the radios act as 
surrogate media in the absence of free and independent media in the 
former Soviet empire, in Cuba, and now in Communist Asia. They fill the 
information gap--in the local languages--where governments deny 
citizens the fundamental right spelled out in article 19 of the 
Universal Declaration of Human Rights: ``To seek, receive, and impart 
information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.''
  Mr. President, Congress has already authorized a plan to restructure 
and economize the radios. The Appropriations Committee has subjected 
the programs to further spending reductions. I believe that additional 
cuts for U.S.-sponsored international broadcasting would be contrary to 
American interests abroad, and I urge that the amendment be dropped in 
conference.

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