[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 10193]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           BROADCAST DECENCY

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, the effort to bring real decency standards to 
our airwaves is taking a major step forward this week. A couple of 
weeks ago, the Senate passed the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act 
ending months of inaction by that body on the issue, and the House had 
passed its own version earlier last year.
  While there are differences between the two bills, they both send a 
clear message: If you violate decency standards over broadcast 
airwaves, you will pay a price, a big price. Under current law, fines 
are limited to $32,500 per violation. The bill we will vote on today 
gives the FCC real teeth to enforce decency standards by increasing 
fines to 10 times that amount. Broadcasters will think twice about 
airing obscene material if they know it will cost them more than a 
quarter million dollars to do so.
  Mr. Speaker, common decency is under attack in our society. The 
airwaves often lead the charge. Broadcast decency legislation seeks to 
do something about that. I applaud my colleagues in the House and 
Senate for acting on the issue, urge the Members to vote for the bill, 
send it to the President for his signature, and once again, enforce 
broadcast decency laws in our country.

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