[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 11870]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          PUBLIC BROADCASTING

  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
  Amidst questions of Federal funding and the efficiency of the budget 
process, there is a unique American success story, where a modest 
Federal investment has inspired a multibillion-dollar public-private 
partnership, the majority of the funds actually voluntarily provided by 
individual citizens supporting local education, cultural, current 
events, and even emergency information. I am referring, of course, to 
America's public broadcasting system, where every week more than 87 
million Americans tune in to public television, and there are 30 
million regular public radio listeners.
  In virtually every community across the country, people can tune in 
to over 1,000 public broadcasting radio and television stations for 
programs that inform and inspire, for help with reading or job 
training, for the latest in digital services, for local news and unique 
information, and for a myriad of other special reasons. Because these 
local stations determine their own program schedules and often produce 
their own programming, they respond to community needs and leverage 
local support.
  There has been a key role for us here in Congress. The Corporation 
for Public Broadcasting distributes an annual appropriation that we 
provide in accordance with a statutory formula, the vast majority of 
which goes directly to public radio and television stations.
  While this Federal appropriation accounts for only 15 percent of the 
entire cost of public broadcasting, it leverages critical investments 
from State and local governments, from universities, businesses, 
foundations and, most important, those millions of viewers and 
listeners of public radio and television who provide their voluntary 
contributions.
  Now, this public support from the Federal Government is critical, 
because it helps fill in gaps in addition to inspiring those 
partnerships. Make no mistake, if the Federal government reduces or 
eliminates its support, there will still be public broadcasting in the 
large metropolitan areas, New York, San Francisco. My hometown of 
Portland, Oregon, will have public broadcasting.
  But what will suffer is not just the quality of the programming, but 
the expensive service to rural and small town America which cannot 
generate enough resources to provide its own service. That will suffer.
  Sadly, again, this year, public broadcasting is under attack in the 
appropriations process. One of the most dismaying cuts would be the 
advance funding program for 2009, ending a 30-year practice. It goes 
back to 1975, where the Federal Government recognized that the long-
term investment in these partnerships require people to be able to plan 
for the future. So we have provided a cost-free guarantee of future 
funding. It has provided long-term stability to make this unique 
partnership work, but, sadly, the appropriators would eliminate this 
advance funding.
  Another cut, which is hard to fathom, would be taking away money for 
digital conversion at the same time the FCC is mandating that all 
broadcasters need to be compliant by February 2009. This funding would 
be for the third and final installment, which is important for 
leveraging money from other partners, State matching grants, for 
instance.
  At a time when public broadcasting is leading the way for digital 
conversion, it is ironic that our appropriators would eliminate this 
program. It would take away funding for educational programs like 
Sesame Street, Between the Lions, and Maya and Miguel, putting them at 
risk. At a time we want highly qualified teachers ready to teach, 
Internet-based teacher professional development would also be 
eliminated.
  These major reductions in funding would have an immediate and severe 
impact on our communities and our constituents, as I say, especially in 
small town and rural America. These cuts from the appropriating process 
are despite strong shows of support on a bipartisan basis for our 
colleagues urging full funding.
  Last year we had an embarrassing political battle here on the floor 
of the House, where a bipartisan majority had to overturn the worst of 
the cuts. One can only hope that we will be spared this saga and that 
the appropriating process will provide the funds that American public 
broadcasting needs.

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