[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 137 (Saturday, September 28, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H12033]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          FUNDING FOR TV MARTI IN OMNIBUS APPROPRIATIONS BILL

  (Mr. SKAGGS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SKAGGS. Mr. Speaker, given the business just concluded, we will 
be taking up shortly a bill that includes essentially an omnibus 
appropriations bill for the next fiscal year. It will come as no 
surprise that some things have survived in this pending omnibus 
spending bill which are an absolute, total, and incredible waste of 
money. At the top of that list is continued funding for TV Marti.
  Mr. Speaker, this program is a fraud on the taxpayers. It purports to 
broadcast news about Cuba to Cuba from south Florida. But the travesty 
is that no one, absolutely no one, sees these broadcasts because of 
jamming by the Castro regime.
  Even though the Committee on Appropriations agreed on a 2 to 1 
bipartisan vote in the House to kill this boondoggle, it is back. After 
throwing away some $100 million over the last several years on this 
failed experiment, we are about to blow another $12 million or $15 
million next year.
  Mr. Speaker, this program continues in spite of all evidence, three 
or four independent investigations, that it is a total flop. It is a 
shame, Mr. Speaker, that this travesty continues.

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