[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 176 (Tuesday, December 9, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S16141-S16142]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SENATE RESOLUTION 283--AFFIRMING THE NEED TO PROTECT CHILDREN IN THE 
                UNITED STATES FROM INDECENT PROGRAMMING

  Mr. SESSIONS (for himself, Mr. Shelby, Mr. Inhofe, Mr. Brownback, Mr. 
Nickles, Mr. Bunning, Mr. Talent, Mr. Chambliss, Mr. Craig, Mr. 
Domenici, Mr. Kyl, and Mr. Hollings) submitted the following 
resolution; which was considered and agreed to:

                              S. Res. 283

       Whereas millions of people in the United States are 
     increasingly concerned with the patently offensive television 
     and radio programming being sent into their homes;
       Whereas millions of families in the United States are 
     particularly concerned with the adverse impact of this 
     programming on children;
       Whereas indecent and offensive programming is contributing 
     to a dramatic coarsening of civil society of the United 
     States;
       Whereas the Federal Communications Commission is charged 
     with enforcing standards of decency in broadcast media;
       Whereas the Federal Communications Commission established a 
     standard defining what constitutes indecency in the 
     declaratory order In the Matter of a Citizen's Complaint 
     Against Pacifica Foundation Station WBAI(FM), 56 F.C.C.2d 94 
     (1975) (referred to in this Resolution as the ``Pacifica 
     order'');
       Whereas the Federal Communications Commission has not used 
     all of its available authority to impose penalties on 
     broadcasters that air indecent material even when egregious 
     and repeated violations have been found in the cases of WKRK-
     FM, Detroit, MI, File No. EB-02-IH-0109 (Apr. 3, 2003) and 
     WNEW-FM, New York, New York, EB-02-IH-0685 (Sept. 30, 2003);
       Whereas the standard established in the Pacifica order 
     focuses on protecting children from exposure to indecent 
     language;
       Whereas the standard established in the Pacifica order was 
     upheld as constitutional by the United States Supreme Court 
     in Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation, 
     438 U.S. 726 (1978);
       Whereas the Enforcement Bureau of the Federal 
     Communications Commission has refused to sanction the airing 
     of indecent language during the broadcast of the Golden Globe 
     Awards, at a time when millions of children were in the 
     potential audience; and
       Whereas as of December 2003, an application for review is 
     pending before the Federal Communications Commission, 
     requesting that the full Commission review that decision of 
     the Enforcement Bureau: Now, therefore, be it
         Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
         (1) the Federal Communications Commission should re-
     consider the Enforcement Bureau's decision in the Matter of 
     Complaints Against Various Broadcast Licensees Regarding 
     Their Airing of the ``Golden Globe Awards'' Program, File No. 
     EB-03-IH-0110, 2003 FCC LEXIS 5382, (Oct. 3, 2003), in light 
     of the public policy considerations in protecting children 
     from indecent material;
       (2) the Federal Communications Commission should return to 
     vigorously and expeditiously enforcing its own United States 
     Supreme Court-approved standard for indecency in broadcast 
     media, as established in the declaratory order In the Matter 
     of a Citizen's Complaint Against Pacifica Foundation Station 
     WBAI(FM), 56 F.C.C.2d 94 (1975);
       (3) the Federal Communications Commission should reassert 
     its responsibility as defender of the public interest by 
     undertaking new and serious efforts to sanction broadcast 
     licensees that refuse to adhere to the standard established 
     in that order;
       (4) the Federal Communications Commission should make every 
     reasonable and lawful effort to protect children from the 
     degrading influences of indecent programming;
       (5) the Federal Communications Commission should use all of 
     its available authority to protect the public from indecent 
     broadcasts including: (1) the discretion to impose fines up 
     to a statutory maximum for each separate ``utterance'' or 
     ``material'' found to be indecent; and (2) the initiation of 
     license

[[Page S16142]]

     revocation proceedings for repeated violations of its 
     indecency rules;
       (6) the Federal Communications Commission should resolve 
     all indecency complaints expeditiously, and should consider 
     reviewing such complaints at the full Commission level; and
       (7) the Federal Communications Commission should 
     aggressively investigate and enforce all indecency 
     allegations.

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