Ed Markey: “In 1990 we passed in this body the Children's Television Act. In that act we set as a requirement that the Federal…”

“In 1990 we passed in this body the Children's Television Act. In that act we set as a requirement that the Federal Communications Commission had to go into a rulemaking on the question of what the responsibilities of local broadcasters would be to have served the educational and informational needs of the children who live within the broadcast area of every television station in the United States. During the Bush years there was no real activity on this rulemaking that had to be undertaken, and there was a delay of almost a year before Reed Hunt was in fact confirmed as the new Chairman of the FCC in 1993. The FCC is in a rulemaking right now on this issue, and it is I think about as important a debate as we can have in this country because, while the V-chip which we passed on the floor and is now law, as signed by President Clinton, gives to the parents of the country the ability to block out excessively violent, sexually material on their screen, and that will be a technology available to parents within the next couple of years, it still does not in any way ensure that there will be quality positive children's television that will enhance the educational and informational needs of children across the country. That is what the Children's Television Act rulemaking at the Federal Communications Commission is all about. It is my belief that the Commission has to take a very strong stand on this issue.”