[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book I)]
[June 15, 2006]
[Pages 1145-1147]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks on Signing the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005
June 15, 2006

    Thank you all. Please be seated. Thank you all for coming. In a few 
moments, I will sign the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act. This is a 
good bipartisan bill. It's going to help American parents by making 
broadcast television and radio more family-friendly.
    I appreciate the many citizens groups who are here, and I want to 
thank the Members of Congress who worked hard to get this bill passed. 
And I'm looking forward to signing it into law.
    I want to thank Kevin Martin, who's the 
Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, and I want to thank 
the other Commissioners who are here today.
    I appreciate Senator Bill Frist joining us. 
He's the majority leader of the United States Senate. I want to thank 
Senator Ted Stevens for joining us as 
well. I thank Senator Sam Brownback, 
Senator George Allen. I want to thank the House 
majority leader, John Boehner, for being 
here. I want to thank Joe Barton, chairman of 
the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

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    The bill sponsor is with us, Fred Upton from the State of Michigan. Thank you for coming, Fred. I 
appreciate Congressman Bobby Rush from the 
State of Illinois, Chip Pickering from Mississippi, and Joe Pitts from Pennsylvania.
    Every day, our Nation's parents strive to raise their children in a 
culture that too often produces coarse, vulgar, and obscene 
entertainment. In our free society, parents have the final 
responsibility over the television shows that their children watch or 
the web sites they visit or the music they listen to. That's a 
responsibility of moms and dads all across the country, to make sure 
their children are listening to or watching the right kind of 
programming.
    The best way to do that is for parents to be vigilant, pay attention 
to what their children are doing. One thing they can do if they're 
worried about people watching a bad program is turn off the TV. That's 
why they put the on/off button there. [Laughter] Parents are the first 
line of defense, but broadcasters and the electronics industry must play 
a valuable role in protecting our children from obscene and indecent 
programming.
    They provide the tools that empower parents to make good decisions, 
such as voluntary rating systems and the V-chip. And we applaud those. 
Broadcasters also have a duty to respect common decency, to take into 
account the public interest, and to keep the public airwaves free of 
indecent material, especially during the hours when children are most 
likely to be watching and listening.
    Unfortunately, in recent years, broadcast programming has too often 
pushed the bounds of decency. One study found that during the hours 
between 8 and 9 p.m.--that's the time when most families are watching 
television--the use of profanity on television shows increased vulgar 
language by 95 percent from '88 to--1988 to 2002. In other words, the 
language is becoming coarser during the times when it's more likely 
children will be watching television. It's a bad trend, a bad sign. 
Since 2000, the number of indecency complaints received by the FCC has 
increased from just hundreds per year to hundreds of thousands. In other 
words, people are saying, ``We're tired of it, and we expect the 
Government to do something about it.''
    And so we believe we have a vital role to play. We must ensure that 
decency standards for broadcasters are effectively enforced. That's the 
duty of the FCC. That's why we've got the Chairman standing right here, which he understands. [Laughter] 
It's the duty of the FCC to impose penalties on broadcasters and 
stations that air obscene or indecent programming. It's one of their 
responsibilities. People expect us to adhere to our responsibilities. 
He's a part of the executive branch. And since I'm the head of the 
executive branch, I take responsibility, as well, for putting people in 
place at the FCC who understand, one of their jobs, and an important 
job, is to protect American families.
    The problem we have is that the maximum penalty that the FCC can 
impose under current law is just $32,500 per violation. And for some 
broadcasters, this amount is meaningless. It's relatively painless for 
them when they violate decency standards. And so the Congress decided to 
join the administration and do something about it.
    And so the bill I'm about to sign, the Broadcast Decency Enforcement 
Act, increases tenfold the penalty that the FCC can impose, to $325,000. 
The Congress got serious, and I appreciate their hard work on this 
measure.
    The legislation does not change the broadcast decency standards that 
are already on the books. What the legislation does is it gives the FCC 
the means to enforce them more effectively. By allowing the FCC to levy 
stiffer and more meaningful fines on broadcasters who violate decency 
standards, this law will ensure that broadcasters take seriously their 
duty to keep the public airwaves free of obscene,

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profane, and indecent material. American families expect and deserve 
nothing less.
    And so I'm going to ask the Members of Congress who have worked hard 
on this piece of legislation to join me. I congratulate you for your 
good work. Thank you for coming. May God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 11:07 a.m. in Room 350 of the Dwight D. 
Eisenhower Executive Office Building. S. 193, approved June 15, was 
assigned Public Law No. 109-235.