[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 119 (Wednesday, September 4, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H9953-H9954]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      VOICE OF AMERICA RECORDINGS

  Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 3916) to make available certain Voice of America and Radio 
Marti multilingual computer readable text and voice recordings.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 3916

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

     SECTION 1. AVAILABILITY OF VOICE OF AMERICA AND RADIO MARTI 
                   MULTILINGUAL COMPUTER READABLE TEXT AND VOICE 
                   RECORDINGS.

       (a) In General.--Notwithstanding section 208 of the Foreign 
     Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1986 and 1987 (22 
     U.S.C. 1461-1a) and the second sentence of section 501 of the 
     United States Information and Educational Exchange Act of 
     1948 (22 U.S.C. 1461), the Director of the United States 
     Information Agency is authorized to make available, upon 
     request, to the Linguistic Data Consortium of the University 
     of Pennsylvania computer readable multilingual text and 
     recorded speech in various languages. The Consortium shall, 
     directly or indirectly as appropriate, reimburse the Director 
     for any expenses involved in making such materials available.
       (b) Termination.--Subsection (a) shall cease to have effect 
     5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New 
York [Mr. Gilman] and the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. Hamilton] will 
each control 20 minutes.

[[Page H9954]]

  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York [Mr. Gilman].
  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  (Mr. GILMAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present H.R. 3916 to the 
House.
  This bill, which was cosponsored by my colleagues from New Jersey, 
Mr. Andrews and Pennsylvania, Mr. Fox, will permit university-level 
linguistic researchers to use Voice of American and Radio Marti 
transcripts for the purpose of research. The authority provided in this 
bill sunsets after 5 years.
  This legislation is necessary since the U.S. Information Agency is 
forbidden to disseminate domestically the materials it produces. This 
legislation waives this prohibition, allowing USIA to provide computer-
readable multilingual text and recorded speech in various languages to 
the University of Pennsylvania's Linguistic Data Consortium. The 
authority to release the VOA transcripts is carefully targeted to the 
university-level research community.
  All the data to be received by the Consortium will be processed in 
electronic form by computers to create statistical tables and models of 
speech and written language, from which content is not recoverable. 
Thus there is no question of the data being redistributed as news or as 
any kind of product other than a data base for linguistic research and 
development.
  The Linguistic Data Consortium is a nonprofit organization founded in 
1992 with the mission of making resources for research in linguistic 
technologies widely available. About 80 companies, universities, and 
government agencies are members of the consortium. The data will be 
provided at not cost to the Government; the consortium is required to 
reimburse the Government for any costs the Government incurs.
  The U.S. Information Agency, I should add, has no objective to the 
enactment of this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. HAMILTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. 
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3916.
  As Chairman Gilman has explained, this bill will allow the U.S. 
Information Agency to make available certain transcripts and recordings 
to a research consortium associated with the University of 
Pennsylvania.
  The Linguistic Data Consortium is associated with the University of 
Pennsylvania and other universities, companies, and Government 
agencies. It will use these materials in research into computerized 
speech recognition and voice synthesis, document retrieval, 
computerized translation, and other areas.
  Transcripts of broadcasts by the Voice of America and Radio Marti are 
considered unusual and valuable for research by this consortium because 
these services broadcast in so many languages.
  This research could lead to the development of software that will 
help U.S. companies as well as Government agencies translate their 
products and technology into other languages. This is an area where our 
European counterparts are ahead of the United States.
  Research conducted as a result of this bill could help U.S. companies 
catch up.
  I commend the chairman for bringing this bill forward and I urge its 
adoption.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from New York [Mr. Gilman] that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 3916.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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