[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 157 (Sunday, November 9, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2279]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 2264, DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN 
 SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1998

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                               speech of

                       HON. ESTEBAN EDWARD TORRES

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Saturday, November 8, 1997

  Mr. TORRES. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to support the fiscal year 2000 
$300 million advance funding level for the Corporation for Public 
Broadcasting contained in this bill. That is a $50 million increase 
over the comparable appropriation for fiscal year 1999, an amount which 
only partially offsets the three consecutive years of rescission of 
public broadcasting funds. The American public has sent a clear message 
to Congress that it supports a public broadcasting system.
  The House appropriations report concerning CPB funding specifically 
supports the commitment made by CPB in 1994 to formalize partnerships 
among the organizations of the National Minority Public Broadcasting 
Consortia, television stations, and other public broadcasting 
organizations to maximize resources to increase the amount of 
multicultural programming on public television. That 1994 agreement was 
over a year in the making, but unfortunately, it has never received any 
funding.
  I trust that the $50 million increase will make it possible to fund 
the Principles of Partnership Initiative, and would encourage CPB to 
see if they can find fiscal year 1998 and fiscal year 1999 funds to get 
this initiative of collaboration underway.
  The Minority Consortia organizations--Pacific Islanders in 
Communications, National Black Programming Consortium, National Latino 
Communications Center, National Asian American Telecommunications 
Association, Native American Public Telecommunications--have provided 
public broadcasting's program schedule hundreds of hours of programming 
addressing the cultural, social, and economic issues of the country's 
racial and ethnic communities. Additionally, each consortium has been 
engaged in cultivating ongoing relationships with the independent 
minority producers community by providing program funding, programming 
support, and distribution assistance. They also provide numerous hours 
of programming to individual public television and radio stations.
  I would like to point out that the newest consortia member, Pacific 
Islanders in Communications, is headquartered in Hawaii and has already 
had major responsibility for several award winning public broadcast 
productions, notably Storytellers of the Pacific which was coproduced 
with Native American Public Telecommunications, and And Then There Were 
None.
  I look forward to an increasingly productive partnership between 
public broadcasting and the National Minority Public Broadcasting 
organizations and the communities they represent.

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