[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 135 (Wednesday, September 23, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H9823-H9824]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     REAUTHORIZING RADIO FREE ASIA

  Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 3593) to amend the United States International Broadcasting 
Act of 1994 to extend by one year the operation of Radio Free Asia, and 
for other purposes.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 3593

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

     SECTION 1. ONE YEAR EXTENSION OF OPERATION OF RADIO FREE ASIA.

       Section 309(f) of the United States International 
     Broadcasting Act of 1994 (22 U.S.C. 6208(f)) is amended by 
     striking ``2009'' and inserting ``2010''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Watson) and the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-
Lehtinen) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from California.

                              {time}  1115


                             General Leave

  Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include 
extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, Radio Free Asia provides timely, accurate 
and useful news and information to countries whose leadership prohibits 
access to truly free media. Listeners in China, Tibet, Vietnam, Laos, 
North Korea and Burma can learn about what is happening in their own 
countries and in their own languages and dialects through professional 
and objective reporting and discussion programs on RFA.
  RFA's performance is impressive in parts of the world where 
governments make independent broadcasting difficult or even impossible. 
It is one of our most dynamic surrogate broadcasters.
  RFA uses well-established means of information dissemination, such as 
shortwave transmissions and hand-cranked radios, that are spirited to 
listeners who are otherwise entirely cut off from the world. It also 
makes use of modern media technologies such as live streaming over the 
Internet in regions where access to computers is relatively common but 
where governments place controls on news reporting. The listener 
feedback to these programs by e-mail and during call-in talk shows is 
very impressive. It provides a credible window on the pervasiveness of 
corruption and autocracy.
  I think most of us agree that it is useful to continue operating RFA, 
as it serves to help maintain freedom of information overseas as well 
as promoting better understanding of United States values such as 
democracy.
  The legislation before us, offered by the gentleman from California 
(Mr. Royce) would reauthorize RFA to continue its operations for the 
next fiscal year. I strongly urge all of our colleagues to support this 
legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I also rise in support of H.R. 3593. I want to thank my 
good friend from California (Mr. Royce), the ranking member of the 
Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade, for introducing 
this measure.
  Thirteen years ago next week, on September 29, 1996, Radio Free Asia 
first went on the air with a Mandarin language broadcast into China. 
Today,

[[Page H9824]]

RFA broadcasts into China, Tibet, North Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos 
and Burma in nine local languages and dialects. It provides timely, 
objective news to people who are denied the benefit of a free press in 
their own homeland.
  Not only did Congress create and fund that surrogate broadcasting 
service, we also urged RFA to increase its transmissions to 
particularly vulnerable populations, such as the people of North Korea, 
as we did in the North Korea Human Rights Act of 2004 and last year's 
reauthorization of that law. We are proud and supportive of the good 
work that Radio Free Asia continues to do.
  While the authorization of appropriations for RFA was previously 
extended, it appears that the statutory section detailing RFA's grant-
making authority was inadvertently omitted from that reauthorization, 
leaving it to expire at the end of this month. Therefore, we have this 
one-sentence bill before us today to correct that oversight. In the 
time when we see bills of over 1,000 pages in length which many have 
not read, it is wonderful to see a very simple bill, a brief bill, but 
a very important bill.
  Both Republican and Democrat versions of The Foreign Relations 
Authorization Act introduced in this Congress include a provision that 
would remove the sunset of RFA authority, making it permanent. I look 
forward to working toward a long-term reauthorization of the RFA on a 
bipartisan basis during the year ahead. I urge support for this 
measure.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the author of 
this legislation and the individual behind the United States' 
international broadcasting of Radio Free Asia, Mr. Royce of California.
  Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that. I rise in support of this 
bill. I just want to take a moment here to thank Chairman Berman and 
also Ranking Member Ros-Lehtinen for their assistance in moving this 
bill so expeditiously to the floor. There is a timing issue here. We 
need to pass this out soon, and this, of course, will allow us to 
broadcast for an additional year. September 30 is the day on which this 
authority will expire. I wish we could do more. I do.
  Earlier this year, as you know, Chairman Berman passed a State 
Department authorization bill out of this House that would have 
established permanent authority for RFA. The other body, the Senate, 
has yet to take up this legislation. We wish they would.
  We can debate the merits of a long-term extension versus sunset 
repeal, but there is one thing certain in all of this, and that is that 
the target countries that we broadcast into, countries like North Korea 
and China, like Burma and Vietnam, they give no indication of allowing 
a free local press any time soon.
  At a practical level, I understand that RFA's sunset restriction has 
hampered RFA's operations. It hampers the ability to go out and hire, 
obviously, on a permanent basis. You can't negotiate a lease or capital 
improvements and so forth. So it is important that we address this 
issue.
  I think it is important that we focus on the success of Radio Free 
Europe-Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia. Radio Free Asia was founded 
in 1996, and it attempts to replicate what RFERL did in Eastern Europe. 
Its mission is to act as a surrogate news service, performing as a free 
press would if it was allowed to operate in any of these countries. 
Quite simply, its broadcasts are devoted to the enlightenment of 
people, to letting people know what is actually happening in their 
country and around the world.
  My interest in these broadcasts stems from a trip I took to Dresden, 
East Germany, years ago, where a man told me about the damage that 
these broadcasts were inflicting on Soviet tyranny and shared with me 
the effect that they seemed to be having, an effect without firing a 
shot, an effect in which the world was changed without the loss of a 
human life.
  Surrogate broadcasts, mainly radio but increasingly these new media, 
provide people with the news and information about their countries that 
otherwise they couldn't possibly obtain. As one observer has noted, 
this type of broadcasting irritates authoritarian regimes. It inspires 
democracies. It creates greater space for civil society. Yes, it does. 
It does change societies.
  Irritate totalitarian regimes? Yes, that has happened. China has 
attempted to erect a ``great wall of sound'' to block RFA 
transmissions. They are not successful, but they block some of them. 
Vietnam has heavily jammed RFA since the first days of the broadcast. 
You may not be able to get it inside the capital, but you can get it in 
the countryside.
  We know what news these Communist regimes are afraid of. In North 
Korea, broadcasting such as this is one of the only sources chipping 
away at Pyongyang's propaganda machine. When I talk to defectors out of 
North Korea, as often as not they have listened to these broadcasts, 
especially the senior civil servicemembers. And military members who 
defect tell about how it changed their view of the world.
  All around the globe, an information war is at play. Iran is spending 
heavily to block our broadcasting, while beaming its own message into 
Afghanistan and even the Balkans to sow division. Russia is 
broadcasting into southeastern Europe as well. Hugo Chavez is crippling 
local media while bolstering Venezuela's state broadcasts around Latin 
America, and he is preaching anti-Americanism with those broadcasts. 
Then there are the 150 sharia-friendly radio broadcasts in Pakistan's 
Swat Valley. Those are the broadcasts that the Taliban are making in 
Afghanistan and in northwest Pakistan.
  So, from Caracas to Tehran to Pyongyang, these totalitarian regimes 
understand that controlling information is central to their being. 
Radio Free Asia is one of our pieces on this chess board.
  I look forward to the passage of this legislation and to working with 
the chairman and ranking member to seek a more important standing for 
this critical organization.
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3593, 
which amends the United States International Broadcasting Act of 1994 
to extend for an additional year the grant-making authority of the 
Broadcasting Board of Governors regarding Radio Free Asia (RFA). 
Without this legislation, that grant-making authority will expire this 
week, putting the important services of RFA at risk.
  The U.S. International Broadcasting Act of 1994 called for RFA to 
engage in ``the continuation of existing U.S. international 
broadcasting, and the creation of a new broadcasting service to people 
of the . . . countries of Asia, which lack adequate sources of free 
information and ideas [to] enhance the promotion of information and 
ideas.'' Reflecting its mandate, Radio Free Asia describes its mission 
as providing ``accurate and timely news and information to Asian 
countries whose governments prohibit access to a free press.'' One of 
RFA's ultimate aims is ``to serve as a model on which others may shape 
their own emerging journalistic traditions.''
  Guided by its core principles of freedom of expression and opinion, 
RFA has provided domestic news and information to its listeners since 
1996. Each RFA broadcast--in nine different languages--is distinctive 
as each reflects the unique culture and preferences of its listeners.
  As a result of its rigorous journalistic standards and hard work, RFA 
has won numerous honors. This year, for example, Radio Free Asia was 
named Broadcaster of the Year by the prestigious New York Festivals 
Radio Programming and Promotions Awards.
  That recognition is well deserved as Radio Free Asia is an important 
voice for millions of listeners, and this legislation will ensure that 
RFA's voice will be heard for another 12 months. For this reason, I 
urge my colleagues to support H.R. 3593.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, 
and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. WATSON. 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 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Watson) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 3593.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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