111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3104 

AN ACT 

To permanently authorize Radio Free Asia, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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†S 3104 ES

1 SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Radio Free Asia (referred to in this Act as 

4 ‘‘RFA’’)— 

5 (A) was authorized under section 309 of 

6 the United States International Broadcasting 

7 Act of 1994 (22 U.S.C. 6208); 

8 (B) was incorporated as a private, non9 profit corporation in March 1996 in the hope 

10 that its operations would soon be obviated by 

11 the global advancement of democracy; and 

12 (C) is headquartered in Washington, DC, 

13 with additional offices in Bangkok, Hong Kong, 

14 Phnom Penh, Seoul, Ankara, and Taipei. 

15 (2) RFA broadcasts serve as substitutes for in16 digenous free media in regions lacking free media 

17 outlets. 

18 (3) The mission of RFA is ‘‘to provide accurate 

19 and timely news and information to Asian countries 

20 whose governments prohibit access to a free press’’ 

21 in order to enable informed decisionmaking by the 

22 people within Asia. 

23 (4) RFA provides daily broadcasts of news, 

24 commentary, analysis, and cultural programming to 

25 Asian countries in several languages, including— 

26 (A) 12 hours per day in Mandarin; 
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1 (B) 8 hours per day in 3 Tibetan dialects, 

2 Uke, Kham, and Amdo; 

3 (C) 4 hours per day in Korean and Bur4 mese; 

5 (D) 2 hours per day in Cantonese, Viet6 namese, Laotian, Khmer (Cambodian), and 

7 Uyghur; and 

(E) 11 8 ⁄2 hours per week in Wu (local 

9 Shanghai dialect). 

10 (5) The governments of the countries targeted 

11 for these broadcasts have consistently denied and 

12 blocked attempts at Medium Wave and FM trans13 missions into their countries, forcing RFA to rely on 

14 Shortwave broadcasts and the Internet. 

15 (6) RFA has provided continuous online news 

16 to its Asian audiences since 2004, although some 

17 countries— 

18 (A) routinely and aggressively block RFA’s 

19 website; 

20 (B) monitor access to RFA’s website; and 

21 (C) discourage online users by making it il22 legal to access RFA’s website. 

23 (7) Despite these attempts, RFA has success24 fully managed to reach its online audiences through 
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1 proxies, cutting-edge software, and active republica2 tion and repostings by its audience. 

3 (8) RFA also provides forums for local opinions 

4 and experiences through message boards, podcasts, 

5 web logs (blogs), cell phone-distributed newscasts, 

6 and new media, including Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, 

7 and YouTube. 

8 (9) Freedom House has documented that free9 dom of the press is in decline in nearly every region 

10 of the world, particularly in Asia, where none of the 

11 countries served by RFA have increased their free12 dom of the press during the past 5 years. 

13 (10) In fiscal year 2010, RFA is operating on 

14 a $37,000,000 budget, less than $400,000 of which 

15 is available to fund Internet censorship circumven16 tion. 

17 (11) Congress currently provides grant funding 

18 for RFA’s operations on a fiscal year basis. 

19 SEC. 2. SENSE OF THE SENATE. 

20 It is the sense of the Senate that— 

21 (1) public access to timely, uncensored, and ac22 curate information is imperative for promoting gov23 ernment accountability and the protection of human 

24 rights; 
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1 (2) Radio Free Asia provides a vital voice to 

2 people in Asia; 

3 (3) some of the governments in Asia spend mil4 lions of dollars each year to jam RFA’s shortwave, 

5 block its Internet sites; 

6 (4) Congress should provide additional funding 

7 to RFA and the other entities overseen by the 

8 Broadcasting Board of Governors for— 

9 (A) Internet censorship circumvention; and 

10 (B) enhancement of their cyber security ef11 forts; and 

12 (5) permanently authorizing funding for Radio 

13 Free Asia would— 

14 (A) reflect the concern that media censor15 ship and press restrictions in the countries 

16 served by RFA have increased since RFA was 

17 established; and 

18 (B) send a powerful signal of our Nation’s 

19 support for free press in Asia and throughout 

20 the world. 

21 SEC. 3. PERMANENT AUTHORIZATION FOR RADIO FREE 

22 ASIA. 

23 Section 309 of the United States International 

24 Broadcasting Act of 1994 (22 U.S.C. 6208) is amended— 
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1 (1) in subsection (c)(2), by striking ‘‘, and shall 

2 further specify that funds to carry out the activities 

3 of Radio Free Asia may not be available after Sep4 tember 30, 2010’’; 

5 (2) by striking subsection (f); 

6 (3) by redesignating subsections (g) and (h) as 

7 subsection (f) and (g), respectively; and 

8 (4) in subsection (f), as redesignated— 

9 (A) by striking ‘‘The Board’’ and inserting 

10 the following: 

11 ‘‘(1) NOTIFICATION.—The Board’’; 

12 (B) by striking ‘‘before entering’’ and in13 serting the following: ‘‘before— 

14 ‘‘(A) entering’’; 

15 (C) by striking ‘‘Radio Free Asia.’’ and in16 serting the following: ‘‘Radio Free Asia; or 

17 ‘‘(B) entering into any agreements in re18 gard to the utilization of Radio Free Asia 

19 transmitters, equipment, or other resources that 

20 will significantly reduce the broadcasting activi21 ties of Radio Free Asia.’’; 

22 (D) by striking ‘‘The Chairman’’ and in23 serting the following: 

24 ‘‘(2) CONSULTATION.—The Chairman’’; and 
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1 (E) by inserting ‘‘or Radio Free Asia 

2 broadcasting activities’’ before the period at the 

3 end. 

Passed the Senate June 25, 2010. 

Attest: 

Secretary. 
111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3104 

AN ACT 

To permanently authorize Radio Free Asia, and for 

other purposes.