Tom Harkin: “I thank the managers of the Department of Defense authorization bill, Senators Warner and Levin, for their assistance…”

“I thank the managers of the Department of Defense authorization bill, Senators Warner and Levin, for their assistance earlier this week in adopting an important amendment. I offered the amendment, now a provision of this bill, to express the sense of the Senate concerning programming on American Forces Radio and Television Service, AFRTS. As my colleagues know, for American service members and their families stationed in more than 177 countries and U.S. territories around the world, as well as for DOD civilians and their families, AFRTS is intended to broadcast a ``touch of home'' by providing programming that reflects a cross section of what is widely available to stateside audiences. According to the AFRTS website, its programming is meant to ``represent what is seen and heard in the United States.'' I support AFRTS in its mission. Making U.S. entertainment and news programming available to American service members wherever they are located is important for their morale and to keep them informed. I believe the fiscal year 2004 funding level of $47 million for AFRTS is justified. Several weeks ago, however, it came to my attention that the programming on one AFRTS service--its ``uninterrupted voice,'' or talk radio, service--has what I consider to be a political bias in its social and political commentary.”