[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 24 (Monday, June 19, 2006)]
[Pages 1144-1146]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
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

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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.
    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.
    Everyday, 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

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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, 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.