- House and Senate Conferees to Soon Decide on Radio Legislation - JBANC ACTION

JBANC ACTION ALERT October 9, 2003
contact: Karl Altau tel. 301-340-1954

- House and Senate Conferees to Soon Decide on Radio Legislation -
Calls Still Needed to Members of Congress to Help Save
Baltic VOA and RFE/RL Language Services

Washington, DC (JBANC) --- A conference committee of members from the House and Senate will soon convene to settle differences in the FY04 Commerce, Justice, State (CJS) Appropriations bill. Although the Senate Appropriations committee agreed on September 4 to restore FY03 level funding for Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Europe /Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) services (S. 1585), the House Appropriations committee did not include the necessary language in H.R.2799. It is critical that the conferees agree on the Senate report language to restore funding for VOA and RFE/RL broadcasts to the Baltics and Central and Eastern Europe at FY03 levels. If the conferees do not agree on this, the services will be dead.

Other important matters in the language also need to be worked out before the bill is finalized:

1) The Senate report language omits mention of Latvian VOA, along with both Slovak and Slovene VOA and RFE/RL services. This still needs to be corrected -- these services have to be reinserted into the bill language.
2) The full figure of $8.9 million for broadcasting services in the region should be asked for, as stipulated in Senate Authorization language.

Please contact your Members of Congress to ask them to support the Senate Appropriations report language (S.Rept. 108-144) to restore funding to VOA and RFE/RL Baltic language services.

For House members, please contact (Tel/Fax numbers):
Bill Young (R-FL) 202-225-5961/225-9764
Frank Wolf (R-VA) 202-225-5136/225-0437
David Obey (D-WI) 202-225-3365/715-842-4488
Jose Serrano (D-NY) 202-225-4361/225-6001
Other CJS subcommittee members:
Harold Rogers (R-KY) 202-225-4601/225-0940
Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) 202-225-2542/225-0378
Charles Taylor (R-NC) 202-225-6401/226-6422
Ralph Regula (R-OH) 202-225-3876/225-3059
David Vitter (R-LA) 202-225-3015/225-0739
John Sweeney (R-NY) 202-225-5615/225-6234
Mark Kirk (R-IL) 202-225-4835/225-0837
Alan Mollohan (D-WV) 202-225-4172/225-7564
Bud Cramer (D-AL) 202-225-4801/225-4392
Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) 202-225-4911/225-3290
Martin Olav Sabo (D-MN) 202-225-4755/225-4886
In the House, please also contact:
Dennis Hastert (R-IL) 202-225-2976/225-0697
Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) 202-225-4965/225-8259
Henry Hyde (R-IL) 202-225-4561/225-1166
Tom Lantos (D-CA) 202-225-3531/226-9789
John Shimkus (R-IL) 202-225-5271/225-5880
Doug Bereuter (R-NE) 202-225-4806/225-5686
Robert Wexler (D-FL) 202-225-3001/225-5974
Tom Delay (R-TX) 202-225-5951/225-5241
Members of the House Baltic Caucus

In the Senate, calls are needed to (Tel/Fax numbers):
Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) 202-224-3004/224-2354
Judd Gregg (R-NH) 202-224-3324/224-4952
Robert Byrd (D-WV) 202-224-3954/228-0002
Ernest Hollings (D-SC) 202-224-6121/224-4293
Other CJS subcommittee members:
Pete Domenici (R-NM) 202-224-6621/228-0900
Christopher Bond (R-MO) 202-224-5721/224-8149
Mitch McConnell (R-KY) 202-224-2541/224-2499
Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) 202-224-5922/224-0776
Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Co)202-224-5852/228-4609
Sam Brownback (R-KS) 202-224-6521/228-1265
Daniel Inouye (D-HI) 202-224-3934/224-6747
Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) 202-224-4654/224-8858
Patrick Leahy (D-VT) 202-224-4242/224-3479
Herb Kohl (D-WI) 202-224-5653/224-9787
Patty Murray (D-WA) 202-224-2621/224-0238
In the Senate, please also contact:
Bill Frist (R-TN) 202-224-3344/228-1264
Tom Daschle (D-SD) 202-224-2321/224-6603
Jon Kyl (R-AZ) 202-224-4521/224-2207
Richard Durbin (D-IL) 202-224-2152/228-0400
George Allen (R-VA) 202-224-4024/224-5432
Diane Feinstein (D-CA) 202-224-3841/228-3954
Mike DeWine (R-OH) 202-224-2315/224-6519
Members of Senate Baltic Freedom Caucus.

A complete list of Appropriations committee members and contact information can be obtained by visiting http://congress.org (U.S. Congress/House Appropriations in the drop down menu).

For more information, please see JBANC's backgrounder on the issue:
"Keeping VOA and RFE/RL on the Air in Central and Eastern Europe":
http://jbanc.org/issues.html

Talking Points ---
1) U.S. Public Diplomacy is at stake. The U.S. view abroad is being marginalized.
2) The cost of VOA and RFE/RL broadcasts to the Baltics and Central and Eastern Europe is small -- the benefits are still significant.
3) Senate and House Authorization language should also be supported. The bills support restoration of funding.

JBANC represents the Estonian American National Council, Inc., the American Latvian Association, Inc. and the Lithuanian American Council, Inc.

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JOINT BALTIC AMERICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE, INC.

Representing:
Estonian American National Council, Inc.
American Latvian Association, Inc.
Lithuanian American Council, Inc.

400 Hurley Avenue
Rockville, MD 20850

Tel: (301) 340-1954
Fax: (301) 309-1406
E-Mail:
Net: http://jbanc.org

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