[Pages H14916-H14921]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

DANIEL PEARL FREEDOM OF THE PRESS ACT OF 2009

Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 3714) to amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to include
in the Annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices information
about freedom of the press in foreign countries, establish a grant
program to promote freedom of the press worldwide, and for other
purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:

H.R. 3714

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Daniel Pearl Freedom of the
Press Act of 2009''.

[[Page H14917]]

SEC. 2. INCLUSION OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION RELATING TO
FREEDOM OF THE PRESS WORLDWIDE IN ANNUAL
COUNTRY REPORTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES.

The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 is amended--
(1) in section 116(d) (22 U.S.C. 2151n(d)), as amended by
section 333(c) of this division--
(A) in paragraph (10), by striking ``and'' at the end;
(B) in paragraph (11)--
(i) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``and'' at the end;
and
(ii) in subparagraph (C), by striking the period at the end
and inserting ``; and''; and
(C) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
``(12) wherever applicable--
``(A) a description of the status of freedom of the press,
including initiatives in favor of freedom of the press and
efforts to improve or preserve, as appropriate, the
independence of the media, together with an assessment of
progress made as a result of those efforts;
``(B) an identification of countries in which there were
violations of freedom of the press, including direct physical
attacks, imprisonment, indirect sources of pressure, and
censorship by governments, military, intelligence, or police
forces, criminal groups, or armed extremist or rebel groups;
and
``(C) in countries where there are particularly severe
violations of freedom of the press--
``(i) whether government authorities of each such country
participate in, facilitate, or condone such violations of the
freedom of the press; and
``(ii) what steps the government of each such country has
taken to preserve the safety and independence of the media,
and to ensure the prosecution of those individuals who attack
or murder journalists.''; and
(2) in section 502B (22 U.S.C. 2304), by adding at the end
the following new subsection:
``(i) The report required by subsection (b) shall include,
wherever applicable--
``(1) a description of the status of freedom of the press,
including initiatives in favor of freedom of the press and
efforts to improve or preserve, as appropriate, the
independence of the media, together with an assessment of
progress made as a result of those efforts;
``(2) an identification of countries in which there were
violations of freedom of the press, including direct physical
attacks, imprisonment, indirect sources of pressure, and
censorship by governments, military, intelligence, or police
forces, criminal groups, or armed extremist or rebel groups;
and
``(3) in countries where there are particularly severe
violations of freedom of the press--
``(A) whether government authorities of each such country
participate in, facilitate, or condone such violations of the
freedom of the press; and
``(B) what steps the government of each such country has
taken to preserve the safety and independence of the media,
and to ensure the prosecution of those individuals who attack
or murder journalists.''.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
California (Mr. Berman) and the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-
Lehtinen) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.

General Leave

Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to
include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from California?
There was no objection.
Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this legislation
and yield myself as much time as I may consume.
H.R. 3714 reinforces and broadens our country's commitment to media
freedom around the world. Dedicated to the memory of a prominent U.S.
journalist who lost his life in the pursuit of truth, the Daniel Pearl
Freedom of the Press Act will ensure that our embassies and consulates
overseas bring word to Washington in a timely and regular fashion about
those parts of the world where journalists face obstacles, harassment
and physical harm merely for doing their job.
I want to particularly congratulate my colleague and recognize him,
Adam Schiff of California, for authoring this legislation which will
enshrine in law the practice of including information about media
freedom in the annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices written
by the Department of State.
With passage of this legislation, our embassies and consulates will
be required to report every year on the status of press freedom in each
country, both the good and the bad. Where media freedom is threatened
in a country, our diplomats will report on what steps that government
has taken to preserve journalists' safety and independence and to
ensure the prosecution of those who commit violence against
journalists.
Mr. Speaker, the dangers faced by the media worldwide continue to
mount. On World Press Freedom Day this past May, Freedom House reported
a seventh straight year of decline in global media freedom, with twice
as many losses as gains and with deterioration occurring in every
region of the world. Of the 195 countries and territories that Freedom
House monitors, 36 percent have a free press while 31 percent are rated
partly free and 33 percent not free at all. As the organization noted,
``The press is democracy's first defense, and its vulnerability has
enormous implications for democracy if journalists are not able to
carry out their traditional watchdog role.''
Daniel Pearl was one such watchdog. A long-standing correspondent for
The Wall Street Journal and its South Asia bureau chief, he was
investigating possible terrorism links in Pakistan in early 2002 when
he was kidnapped, held hostage, tortured, and killed. His murder was
videotaped and released on the Internet.
Although the circumstances of this horrific crime were meant to send
a chilling message to the U.S. government and the world's media, it
served instead to strengthen our resolve.
A number of initiatives have been established in his name to promote
intercultural understanding and freedom of the press. We should let the
legislation before us today, Mr. Schiff's bill, become part of this
legacy in the interests of ensuring that those who would seek to
extinguish the light of truth around the world will instead be dragged
out of the shadows and defeated.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield myself such time
as I may consume.
I rise in support of House Resolution 3714, the Daniel Pearl Freedom
of the Press Act of 2009.

{time} 1430

I want to thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Schiff), my good
friend, and also my friend from Indiana (Mr. Pence), our conference
Chair, for introducing this important legislation on an issue of
growing international concern.
A free press is indispensable to an informed public, to government
accountability, and to the efficiency and integrity of public and
commercial institutions. Here in the United States we enjoy the
benefits of a robust free press, protected by the First Amendment to
our Constitution. But in many other parts of the world, telling the
truth as a journalist is dangerous and an even deadly calling.
Sadly, this fact was underscored by the life and death of the person
for whom this bill is named, the brave and accomplished Wall Street
Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. In 2002, while reporting in Pakistan,
Pearl was kidnapped by violent Islamic extremists who chose to murder
him on videotape, after compelling him to recite the fact of his Jewish
religion on camera.
Whether the cause is extremism, corruption, political repression, or
the dangers of reporting from conflict zones, journalists around the
world face a rising tide of threats. So far this year, 68 journalists
have been confirmed killed in the line of duty or because of their
reporting. Nearly half of those, sadly, at least 30 journalists, were
killed in the shocking election-related massacre in the southern
Philippines on November 23. According to the Committee to Protect
Journalists, there has been a 9 percent increase over the 2008 levels
in the imprisonment of journalists worldwide. The one-party regime in
China continues to imprison the largest number of reporters of any one
nation.
But the Iranian regime runs a very close second, and its closure of
yet another newspaper last week is another sad reminder of the extent
to which it has targeted independent and foreign media in the aftermath
of the widespread election-related protests by the Iranian people.
And rounding out the shameful top three, Cuba suffers perhaps the
greatest per capita levels of press repression. Even though it has only
one-twelfth of the population of China, the Cuban regime imprisons
roughly the same number of journalists. Just last month,

[[Page H14918]]

state security agents detained and beat Cuban bloggers Yoani Sanchez,
Claudia Cadelo, and Omar Luis Pardo Lazo as they were on their way to a
peaceful march in Havana. What a sad irony that is.
To help address these and other outrages, the bill before us today
would beef up press-related reporting in the State Department's annual
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Among other issues, the
expanded reports would describe the extent to which foreign governments
are complicit in attacks on press freedoms and what steps are being
taken to protect the media and to prosecute those who attack and murder
journalists. This new reporting will help focus the sunlight of public
scrutiny even more powerfully on these violators of basic rights.
I want to thank, again, Mr. Schiff and Mr. Pence for bringing forward
this important legislation, which deserves our unanimous support.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield such time as he
may consume to the author of this legislation, the gentleman from
California (Mr. Schiff), my friend, colleague, and neighbor.
Mr. SCHIFF. At the outset, let me extend my thanks to my friend and
fellow Californian, the distinguished chairman of the Foreign Affairs
Committee, who has been such a forceful advocate on the issue of media
freedom around the world.
By passing the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act today, the House
brings much-needed attention to a critical human rights issue. It is
especially auspicious that we do it today, December 15, which is Bill
of Rights Day in honor of the first 10 amendments to our Constitution.
The First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of
the press, is considered by many historians and legal scholars to be
the single most important of our constitutional liberties.
We all remember when Daniel Pearl, a highly respected reporter from
The Wall Street Journal, was kidnapped and murdered by terrorists in
Pakistan just 4 months after 9/11. Although four of the kidnappers were
convicted in July of 2002, seven other suspects, including those who
allegedly helped murder Daniel, remain at large.
This past year has been particularly deadly for journalists.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a total of 89
journalists and media workers have been killed this year. More than a
third of these victims, 30, were gunned down in one horrific incident
in the Philippines when 29 journalists and at least one media support
worker were ambushed and brutally slain on November 23 as they traveled
with a convoy of people who intended to file gubernatorial candidacy
papers for a provincial politician.
Unbelievable stories of physical harassment and acts of violence
against journalists contribute to this grim picture. In Mexico, there
has been a dramatic increase in attacks on media workers who try to
cover corruption or gang activities. Very few of these attacks result
in prosecution. As a result, journalists are driven towards censoring
their own reporting out of fear for their personal safety and the lives
of their families.
Legal mechanisms are also increasingly being used to restrict the
media, both through overt censorship and through the use of repressive
legislation. This past April, the Sudanese Parliament began
consideration of a bill that grants unprecedented authority to impose
strict disciplinary measures against journalists and allows the
government to both confiscate printing equipment and determine
journalists' suitability for their profession. Sudanese security
officers visit newspapers nightly to determine what can be printed and
what will be censored.

Freedom of expression cannot exist where journalists and the media
are not independent and safe from repression, persecution, and physical
attacks. And I believe freedom, accountability, and democracy cannot
flourish without a free press. It is the essential check on the power
of the state. Sadly, that power has tempted too many governments, drug
cartels, arms smugglers, and others to target journalists in an effort
to silence them. Sadder still is the indifference of governments
worldwide who have failed to recognize that by failing to protect the
media, we are endangering fragile, young democracies and buttressing
autocratic regimes and criminal syndicates.
To highlight the work of journalists worldwide and to document the
dangers they confront, my colleague from Indiana (Mr. Pence) and I
introduced the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act to focus the
world's attention on those countries in which journalists are killed,
imprisoned, kidnapped, threatened, or censored. I couldn't have a
better partner in this legislation than Mr. Pence, and I greatly
appreciate his advocacy of the freedom of the press.
The legislation calls upon the Secretary of State to greatly expand
its examination of the status of freedom of the press worldwide in the
State Department's annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.
The Daniel Pearl Act requires the State Department to identify
countries in which there were violations of freedom of the press and
whether the government authorities in those countries participate in,
facilitate, or condone the violations. This report will spotlight those
governments which seek to silence media opposition. It is my fervent
hope that by spotlighting media repression in the human rights reports,
American diplomats, Members of Congress, and journalists will press for
greater protections and for the capture and punishment of those who
abuse or kill reporters. We cannot and we must not remain silent in the
face of these purposeful atrocities.
Again, I thank Chairman Berman for his leadership on human rights
issues and his support for the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act. I
also offer my gratitude again to my colleague from Indiana, who has
been such a leader on this issue.
I urge all Members to support this legislation.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to
the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Pence), the chairman of our Republican
Conference, a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. Mr. Pence is
the primary cosponsor of this measure, and I hope that he takes the
time to talk about our next bill, the Iran Sanctions Act, as well.
(Mr. PENCE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. PENCE. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, today I rise in support of H.R. 3714, the Daniel Pearl
Freedom of the Press Act. I do so with a profound sense of privilege
and gratitude to those who have gone before me on the floor today.
To Chairman Berman of California, to the ranking member, Ms. Ros-
Lehtinen of Florida, your partnership on behalf of a free and
independent press on the world stage should be an inspiration to every
American looking on these proceedings.
I especially want to express my appreciation for the visionary
leadership of Congressman Adam Schiff, who brought this legislation and
who invited us to partner in his vision for expanding awareness of the
people of the United States and the people of the world of the
repression of the free press. Congressman Schiff and I were elected in
the same year. We have undoubtedly followed different paths and usually
voted differently on things. We occasionally disagree, but we always
agree on freedom and a free and independent press, and I commend the
gentleman from California for his singular leadership on this issue and
the privilege of working with him.
It is altogether fitting, as the gentlewoman referred earlier,
though, that I should do so not only during this debate but also in
anticipation of the debate on the next legislation, a bipartisan
measure known as the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act, to
specifically point out the abuses of the regime in Iran and express my
strong support for H.R. 2194 as well in the midst of this debate.
The reason why the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act has broad
bipartisan support, and that will be reflected on the floor this day,
is, among other reasons, the support for terrorism by Iran, the pursuit
of weapons of mass destruction, the deception to the world community
again and again. But to the point of this debate, it is also imperative
that the people of the

[[Page H14919]]

United States of America send a message to Iran that the aggressive
repression of a free press in Iran will not be tolerated in the form of
normal relations with the United States of America either
diplomatically or economically.
At this point, the Committee to Protect Journalists reports there are
some 23 journalists in prison in Iran. Last week, we received word that
another opposition newspaper was closed in Iran. And, of course, the
world watched in horror in the aftermath of the blatantly fraudulent
elections of this past June in Iran, as not only did the secret police
stream into the streets to silence, oftentimes by billy club and
violence, the dissidents, but we also watched in horror as the Internet
was silenced, as YouTube videos were cut off, as access to the free
flow of information was stymied by the brutality of the regime in Iran.
So I endorse the legislation that will be brought up, but I see a nexus
here between the two and can't help but reference it.

The legislation that Congressman Schiff and I have brought to the
floor will serve two purposes:
Number one, it will remember the extraordinary sacrifice and courage
of one Daniel Pearl, kidnapped and murdered by terrorists in Karachi,
Pakistan just 4 months after the attacks of September the 11th, 2001.
He was serving as a South Asia Bureau Chief for The Wall Street Journal
that, at the time, was based in Mumbai, India. He went to Pakistan as
part of an investigation into the alleged links between Richard Reid,
the convicted would-be shoe bomber of American Airlines flight 63, and
al Qaeda and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency. Tragically,
Mr. Pearl was brutally executed by his captors. The legislation today
is named in his memory, and I hope his family may well be looking on
today and know that his memory, his courage, and his example of what it
means to advance the practice of journalism on the world stage will
never be forgotten in this body.
But the legislation today is not simply a tribute. The Daniel Pearl
Freedom of the Press Act also will result in an effort to highlight and
promote freedom of the press by including such reports in the State
Department's annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
information.

{time} 1445

As we consider this legislation, we remember Daniel Pearl's legacy,
and we think of the stories of so many others on the front lines of
freedom.
Gustavo Azocar is a political talk show host, newspaper correspondent
and blogger in Venezuela, and he is a vocal critic of Hugo Chavez.
Azocar was jailed in 2009 after posting information about his court
case online. Amnesty International's 2009 ``Report on Human Rights in
Venezuela'' noted the physical attacks and imprisonment of journalists
by this corrupt and despotic regime.
As a conservative who believes in limited government, I believe the
only check on government power in real-time is a free and independent
press. I don't believe our Founders put the First Amendment, freedom of
the press, in our Bill of Rights because they got good press. I believe
it's because they believed in limited government and believed in the
need to constrain consolidations of power.
A free and independent press ensures the free flow of information to
the public. It serves as a vital check on such abuses during a time
when the role of government in our lives and in our enterprises here at
home seems to grow every day. Yet taking a stand today for the
principle of a free press, not only home but in making the means
available to hold the lamp of liberty high and to shine it deep into
the crevices of this world to expose abuses of the freedom of the
press, is a noble task, indeed. So I rise today in support of this
legislation.
I commend Chairman Berman and Ranking Member Ros-Lehtinen for their
bipartisan leadership. I commend the gentleman from California,
Congressman Adam Schiff, for his visionary leadership in bringing this
legislation to the floor.
More importantly than that, I salute the bravery of reporters like
Daniel Pearl and Gustavo Azocar and of press outlets around the world
which, day in and day out, stand in the gap, oftentimes risking their
liberty and, in the case of Daniel Pearl, in fact, risking his life to
do the work of a free and independent press in the world.
I urge those in that service to stand firm, to take heart and to know
that those of us in public life, that those of us in public service,
also understand that those who serve in the world of journalism are
also in the business of public service.
I urge this Congress to stand in solidarity with those on the front
lines of the worldwide fight for the freedom of the press, and I urge
support for the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act and for the
legislation that will follow.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. I am very pleased to yield 5 minutes to the
gentleman from Texas, Judge Poe, a member of the Committee on Foreign
Affairs and a cosponsor of this measure. I hope that he will address
not only this resolution but the one that follows it, the Iran Refined
Petroleum Sanctions Act.
Mr. POE of Texas. I appreciate the gentlewoman for yielding. I
totally support this legislation.
Mr. Speaker, the First Amendment to our Constitution is first for a
reason. The items stated in the First Amendment--the right of freedom
of religion, the right of freedom of speech and of a free press and the
right to peaceably assemble--are in the First Amendment because they
are the most important. Without those four, the rest of the amendments
that follow are meaningless, especially the two which deal with freedom
of speech and with the freedom of press.
You will notice the amendment to our Constitution guarantees a free
press. It does not guarantee a fair press, as ``fair'' is always in the
eyes of the beholder; but it guarantees the right that a press may
exist and communicate, first, through the written word about what is
taking place in a free society, in a democracy, in a republic. Iran is
a perfect example of a nation that does not believe in a free press or
in a press of any kind. It does not want to have its illegitimate
regime exposed to the world in order to let the world know what is
taking place in that country.
We have all seen the students who protested last summer and, more
recently, in the last week and a half. We have all seen how the regime
in Iran blocked Internet access and blocked cell phone usage so that
photographs of what took place could not be transmitted somewhere else.
We have seen that journalists were hauled off to jail and were tried
before the star chamber in secret and that some of them were sentenced
to the penitentiary. Speech is silenced in Iran, both that of the oral
word and the written word. A free press is the enemy of a dictator.
President Ahmadinejad is in defiance of world peace. He is determined
to build nuclear weapons, and he is determined to build missiles that
are capable of delivering those nuclear weapons. Of course, he has made
those plans of his clear to destroy Israel and to be a constant threat
to the West, especially to Europe and to the United States. He
oppresses his own people. That is why those people, those young people,
including journalists and reform clergy members, are opposing his
legitimacy to be ruler over them.
My own opinion is that, in that nation, the more the world hears
about what takes place there, the more the world will support the
people of Iran and a regime change. I hope that we stand by the people
of Iran, who desire to have self-determination and to rule their
country in spite of their rogue dictator.
Of course, now before us today is another bill regarding sanctions of
Iran. I, personally, am not a big fan of sanctions. Historically, they
haven't worked. Some countries have always figured out a way to get
around it. To me, sanctions usually mean that we kick the problem on
down the road with the intention of maybe dealing with it later.
However, preventing refined gasoline from getting to Iran is a good
idea, and that is what this sanction that we will talk about later and
vote on is all about. It may have the result of helping the people of
Iran change their illegitimate government.
Mr. Speaker, dictators hate a free press, but a free press is
essential to a free people whether those free people are in the United
States or whether those free people are in the nation of Iran.

[[Page H14920]]

And that's just the way it is.
Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
California (Mr. Schiff).
Mr. SCHIFF. I thank the gentleman. I will be very brief.
Mr. Speaker, I wanted to add to the comments that my colleagues have
made in their segue to the bill that follows the Daniel Pearl Freedom
of the Press Act, which is the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act.
I am a strong supporter of this legislation. I commend my colleagues,
Chairman Berman and Ranking Member Ros-Lehtinen, for their leadership
on this issue.
One of the most serious threats facing our country is the prospect of
a nuclear-armed Iran. This is an oppressive regime, one that has
threatened to wipe one of its neighbors off the map. The possession of
a nuclear bomb by Iran is enormously dangerous in its own regard, but
it is all the more destabilizing in its potential of starting a nuclear
arms race in the Middle East.
The President has offered carrots and the international community has
offered carrots to Iran to step back from its pursuit of nuclear
weapons. The Congress today takes an important step to make sure that
there are sticks which are offered as well if Iran refuses the very
generous offer by the international community to reprocess uranium--to
provide it for peaceful energy purposes, to have Iran send its uranium
out of the country so that it can be put in a form where it cannot be
used for nuclear weapons.
This legislation, which will potentially crack down on Iran's ability
to refine its petroleum, will put the most severe pressure on the
Iranian regime to back away from a program that time and again we have
seen it pursue, as much as it has declared to the contrary. So this
legislation, I think more so than any other, will put teeth in a regime
of sanctions, will put pressure on Iran to back away from its nuclear
bomb-making efforts, and in so doing, will inure to the safety of our
own country, to the safety of Israel and to the entire region.
So I thank the chairman for his leadership on this. I urge my
colleagues to support the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to take the time to talk about the problems
of media control in Venezuela as ruled by Hugo Chavez.
As we know, there was a new intelligence report that outlined the
schemes of Hugo Chavez, who is the supposed President of Venezuela, to
control media. It is a sign of further deterioration of the freedom of
expression, of democracy and of human rights in Venezuela under the
Chavez rule.
He ratcheted up his rhetoric against free speech and against
political opponents by shutting down broadcast stations across the
country. These are assaults on the pillars of a democratic society, and
they will continue unabated unless responsible nations stand up to
Chavez and send a clear message to him and to others in the region that
this behavior will not be tolerated.
There is a list that I would like to read of five journalists who
were killed in Venezuela: Orel Sambrano of ABC de la Semana and Radio
America, who was killed on January 16, 2009, in Valencia; Jorge Aguirre
of Cadena Capriles, who was killed on April 5, 2006, in Caracas; Jorge
Ibrain Tortoza Cruz, who was killed on April 11, 2002, in Caracas;
Maria Veronica Tessari of Colombian Media, who was killed on January
15, 1993, in Caracas; and Virgilio Fernandez of El Universal, who was
killed on November 27, 1992, in La Carlota, Venezuela.
Just a little while ago, the Committee to Protect Journalists gave us
the news of a journalist who was critical of the Venezuelan Government.
He was arrested on contempt of court charges. Journalist Gustavo Azocar
was arrested with trumped-up charges. Azocar is the host of a news and
political commentary show on local TV station Televisora del Tachira,
and is a correspondent for the national daily El Universal in the
western city of San Cristobal.
These are just more examples of the repression and suppression of
free press by Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.
Mr. ENGEL. Would the gentlewoman yield?
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Yes, I yield to the chairman of the Western
Hemisphere Subcommittee, my good friend from New York (Mr. Engel).
Mr. ENGEL. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, as she was mentioning Venezuela, quite wisely, I agreed
with everything she said about the lack of freedom of the press and
about the shutting down of opposition newspapers. Because the next bill
we will be talking about involves sanctions against Iran, as
Subcommittee chairman of the Western Hemisphere, I want to raise a
concern about Venezuela, which arose at my October hearing, on Iran's
role in the Western Hemisphere.
Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez recently agreed to provide 20,000
barrels per day of refined gasoline to Iran. It's anyone's guess as to
whether this will be implemented, but the deal may be covered by the
bill that we consider now and that we are considering next. While some
question whether Venezuela has the ability to provide gasoline to Iran,
since it imports some gasoline to meet its own domestic demand,
President Chavez is clearly approaching a perilous area. I hope that
Chavez reconsiders this unwise step.
I thank the gentlewoman, as always, for pointing out what is going
on.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. I thank the gentleman.
Mr. Speaker, he makes excellent points also about the tie-in between
Chavez and Ahmadinejad as they seek to suppress any dissidents and any
free press.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of
H.R. 3714, the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act of 2009. This
legislation amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 by expanding. the
Annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices to include information
about freedom of the press in foreign countries and establishing a
grant program to promote freedom of the press worldwide. I support this
resolution because I believe that freedom of the press is an important
pillar of democracy and should be actively promoted in our foreign
policy.
I would like to first thank my colleague, Congressman Adam Schiff,
for introducing this valuable legislation. Freedom of the press is
essential to a functioning democracy. In 1823, Thomas Jefferson said,
``The only security of all is in a free press. The force of public
opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to be expressed. The
agitation it produces must be submitted to. It is necessary, to keep
the waters pure.'' Unfortunately, the truth of that statement, which is
codified in the United States Constitution, is not universally
recognized and the freedom of the press is not universally protected.
In Iran, for example, the government assiduously monitors the press
and journalists and media outlets face government repression if
protocol is not followed. An Iranian journalist, Fariba Pajooh, has
been detained since August of this year without being told of her
charge. That is merely the tip of the iceberg: according to Reporters
without Borders, since the June Presidential election, the Iranian
government has arrested more than 100 reporters and sentenced those
reporters to more than 65 years in prison.
Not coincidentally, those governments that refuse to recognize the
freedom of the press are the same governments who have the most to fear
from democracy. Governments that suppress, intimidate, or oppress
journalists do so because their regimes do not have the full legitimacy
that marks democratic governments. It is understandable but not
forgivable that a government afraid of the destabilizing influence of
the truth would restrict the press. The long-term best interest of any
country is protected, though, when a country is allowed to know the
truth about its government and the world.
H.R. 3714 provides the United States and the world with a powerful
tool to advocate for freedom of the press. Under this legislation, the
State Department will be required to include freedom of the press in
the Annual Country reports on Human Rights Practices. The State
Department will describe the positive and negative steps that
governments have taken with regards to freedom of the press.
Additionally, H.R. 3714 establishes a grant program whereby the U.S.
State Department can fund activities by nonprofit and international
organizations to strengthen independent journalism, promote laws
protecting the freedom of the press, and provide training to
professionalize journalists.
This legislation will raise the profile of freedom of the press
around the world. By enumerating the abuses committed as well as the
positive steps taken towards a free press, the

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world will see plainly the status of democracy in every country.
Additionally, it will allow the United States to help foster
independent journalism in countries in every region that do not have
the tradition or the capacity for a professional free press.
In addition to the foreign policy benefits, I support this
legislation, because I believe that it is a fitting tribute to a great
American, Daniel Pearl. Mr. Pearl was a Wall Street Journal
correspondent who was abducted and beheaded in Karachi, Pakistan in
early 2002. His life was spent in the pursuit of spreading truth
through professional journalism and in his death he has become a symbol
of the free press. This bill adds to the legacy he built with his life.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Perriello). The question is on the
motion offered by the gentleman from California (Mr. Berman) that the
House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 3714, as amended.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a
quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not
present.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be
postponed.
The point of no quorum is considered withdrawn.

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