Senate Resolution 259--Recognizing June As the 39th Anniversary of C-Span Chronicling Democracy in the Senate
Floor Speech
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Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I rise today in the middle of a whole lot going on, concerned about the reconciliation bill that will be considered in the Senate and what it means to the people of my State and in the country. But one of the ways that people find out what is going on here, whether they agree with us or not, is by watching us and listening to speeches. And one of the ways they do that is where? On C- SPAN.
That is what I am here to talk about today because Senator Grassley and I have joined together on a resolution to celebrate the years that C-SPAN has been around in this Chamber. But it is also forward-looking in that we believe that we don't rest on our laurels in the Senate. We don't rest on our laurels with the work we do. C-SPAN doesn't rest on their laurels. And when I get to the end here, I will have a recommendation so that more people will have access to C-SPAN.
So we are celebrating 39 years of C-SPAN's coverage of the Senate. And it is worth looking back at what was going on in 1986 when it all began. Prince had recently--a Minnesotan--released his eighth album; Ronald Reagan was President; and my colleague on this resolution, Chuck Grassley, was already in the Senate.
While C-SPAN had begun airing floor activities over on the House side back in 1979, the Senate had been a tougher sell. It wasn't until someone introduced then-Senate Minority Leader Byrd as the ``Speaker of the House'' on a trip back home in West Virginia but gave him the wrong title--``Speaker of the House'' because people were watching C-SPAN in the House, and they had no access in the Senate--that then-Senator Byrd started to think, Hmm, maybe we should have TV coverage in the Senate as well to make sure that the Senate wasn't outshined by the House. The Senate voted, and C-SPAN2 was born 39 years ago today.
According to Senator Leahy, Senators initially struggled with the lighting because they would see themselves on C-SPAN--especially one in particular that had, in Senator Leahy's words, a ``terrible toupee.'' He never let us know who that Senator was, but I guess that person had complained to him about the C-SPAN lighting.
But Senators eventually came around to see this asset to our democracy for what it is: a way to shine sunlight on our work here in the Senate and to showcase the hard work of democracy to our constituents back at home.
While much has changed with our technology since then, C-SPAN's commitment to offering uninterrupted, unfiltered access to our debates, votes, and deliberations in the Senate has not. C-SPAN2 has recorded more than 43,000 hours of Senate sessions, capturing more than 169,000 speeches. These recordings preserve the voices of 359 different Senators, including 185 Republicans, 167 Democrats, and 7 Independents across nearly four decades of service.
These hours include memorable moments like Senator Ted Kennedy's speech in July 1987; then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and then- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's fireside chat about baseball in 2010; the first time Senator Duckworth brought her baby to the floor after Senator Blunt and I worked to change the rules to allow parents to bring brandnew infants to the floor; Senator Booker's recent 24-hour recordbreaking floor speech; and debates on key legislation.
C-SPAN brought this work directly into our constituents' living rooms, as it has done for every monumental development in the Senate for the past 39 years. C-SPAN2 has also documented nearly 24,000 rollcall votes, providing the transparency and accountability our democracy needs to thrive.
That is why, on its 39th birthday, Senator Grassley and I wanted to highlight how important it is for all television providers, including major streaming services like YouTube TV, owned by Google, and Hulu + Live TV, owned by Disney, to provide the American public with C-SPAN and the opportunity to see their government work on the Senate floor.
If you look at these packages with these channels, you will see so many channels, as all of us know, so many offered, but somehow omitted from those channels of YouTube, Google, and Hulu + Live TV is C-SPAN, which would allow the people of this country, for no cost, to be able to see the deliberations that go on in the House and the Senate.
Access to this live coverage on all platforms, being able to see hearings, congressional hearings, being able to see what we say is so important for the American people.
So we got used to this 39 years ago when only the House had it and the Senate thought it was too cool to do. No, no, this is our Chamber. We are not going to let any TV cameras in.
We let those TV cameras in. Well, now we are at a different stage in our history, and a lot of people are seeing their news this way. So we need to expand it and make sure we are on all of those platforms, as well as the ones we already are on.
Thank you again to Senator Grassley for working with me to highlight C-SPAN's critical role, and thanks to everyone who has had a hand in C- SPAN's success. Happy birthday.
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