House Committee Cuts CPB Funding

HOUSE COMMITTEE CUTS CPB FUNDING
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
On Wednesday, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies voted to cut $115 million from the federal appropriation for noncommercial broadcasting, a 23% cut in the 2007 appropriation. Included in the cuts is funding for the DTV transition, all the money for the Ready To Learn program as well as the Ready to Teach complementary effort targeted at teachers. The same committee last year proposed cutting $223 million form CPB, including for Ready to Learn and digital transition, but the Senate restored those cuts after protests led by Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY), among others. Free Press saw the cuts as a threat to diversity of news outlets. "Americans across the political spectrum aren't willing to abandon public broadcasting, or to allow it to turn it into a purely commercial enterprise," said Executive Director Josh Silver. "Congress must restore full funding to public broadcasting or risk losing a source of news and information that Americans say, in poll after poll, is the most trusted in America."
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6341676?display=Breaking+News

* CPB Responds to House Appropriations Subcommittee's Proposed Funding Levels for Public Broadcasting
"While we appreciate the difficult choices confronting the Appropriations Committee, we are disappointed with the funding levels contained in the current House Labor-HHS bill," said Patricia Harrison, CPB president and CEO. "A twenty-plus percent cut, amounting to 104.5 million dollars, will impact all CPB programs, and undermine public broadcasting's ability to continue to offer essential educational services and provide a backbone for a national emergency alert system. I look forward to making the case to the House and Senate for their full support, appreciation and respect for the inherent value of public broadcasting to our civil society, our children's education, and our nation's security," concluded Harrison.
http://www.cpb.org/pressroom/release.php?prn=551

* Markey: Cheney Gunning for Big Bird
Rep Ed Markey (D-MA) said, "The decision by Republicans to slash $115 million from the budget for public broadcasting is a body blow to a treasured institution," he said. It seems that Dick Cheney and the House GOP have the hunting party out for Big Bird and Clifford the Big Red Dog and the vast majority of Americans won't stand for it."
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6341919?display=Breaking+News