[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 63 (Friday, May 19, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4841-S4842]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. DODD (for himself and Mr. Lott):
  S. 2918. A bill to provide access to newspapers for blind or other 
persons with disabilities; to the Committee on rules and 
Administration.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, today I am introducing, along with the 
distinguished Chairman of the Rules Committee, legislation to ensure 
that the blind and those with disabilities continue to have free access 
to electronic editions of periodicals and newspapers. This service is 
an extension of the existing authorization for the Library of

[[Page S4842]]

Congress to provide Braille books, recordings, sound reproduction 
equipment, musical scores, and other materials to the blind and 
physically disabled individuals.
  Currently, the National Federation of the Blind provides these 
services through its NFB-NEWSLINE program which has been funded by the 
Library of Congress through its Books for the Blind program. The NFB-
NEWSLINE program is a telephone-based electronic audio newspaper 
service serving our Nation's 1.3 million blind Americans by providing 
23 million minutes of on-demand service in response to 2,600 calls per 
day at an average cost of 2.7 cents per minute.
  Congress established the Books for the Blind program within the 
Library of Congress in 1931. The program is administered by the 
National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, NLS, 
which continues to be the primary source of Braille and audio books and 
magazines for blind adults today. However, until development of the 
NFB-NEWSLINE program, it was not economically feasible for NLS to 
provide timely access to newspapers for the blind. Under current 
production methods, it would require several weeks for NLS to prepare 
and deliver a single copy of a daily newspaper.
  The NFB-NEWSLINE program, however, is designed for real time rapid 
distribution of the electronic text of newspapers. Under this program, 
the blind can access daily newspapers on the day of publication through 
telephone access to the digital text. The funding for this program has 
been provided by a public-private partnership between NFB-NEWSLINE, 
state sponsors, including public libraries, rehabilitation agencies, 
and several affiliates of NFB, and the Library of Congress. Newspaper 
and magazine content is contributed by many participating news 
organization and publishers.
  The bill Senator Lott and I are introducing today will ensure the 
continued Federal share of this partnership so that NFB-NEWSLINE can 
continue to serve as the multi-state provider of this service. 
Currently, NFB-NEWSLINE provides some level of service to all 50 
states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico by providing local 
dialing numbers for the blind and disabled to use to access newspapers 
and periodicals. The annual telecommunications costs for this service 
is approximately $750,000 which serves approximately 40 percent of the 
eligible readers.
  This bill will enable NFB-NEWSLINE to continue to serve existing 
readers with improved services while at the same time expanding 
services to more readers. The bill authorizes $750,000 for this service 
in fiscal year 2007 and such sums as are necessary in fiscal years 
2008-2011. This is a very efficient program that for a very small 
Federal investment will allow the blind and disabled to more fully 
participate in their communities through access to the daily news. With 
the current state of technology, it is simply unacceptable that the 
blind and disabled do not have real time access to daily newspapers and 
periodicals.
  I commend NFB-NEWSLINE for developing this public-private partnership 
to serve the needs of the blind and disabled individuals and I pleased 
to introduce this legislation to ensure the continuation of this 
program.

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