Legislators Plan To Defend Public Broadcasting Funding Through Congressional Caucus
With four bills introduced in Congress this year set on eliminating the funding for public broadcasting entities in an effort to trim the budget, some legislators will begin counter efforts this year, legislators and aides said. “In the face of the fiscal reality our new majority inherited after years of reckless spending, the necessary fact is that everything is on the table,” said Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., chairman of the House Labor, Health and Human Service subcommittee. It oversees funding for NPR.
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Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., plans to reinstate the Public Broadcasting Caucus in the 112th Congress, said an aide to him. Blumenauer plans to remain co-chairman of the caucus, a congressional body he started in 2001. He’s concerned about the funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the staff member said. If the funding is cut, “it’s the rural stations that are going to be hurt the most,” the aide said. “A lot of them depend on 50 percent of their funding to come from CPB,” he said. “You can’t make that difference up from donations, grants and local outreach efforts."
Another important aspect is that “funding provides the costly infrastructure for these rural areas” and “it prevents them from being left in the Stone Age,” Blumenauer’s aide said. The caucus will be circulating a letter urging supporters of defunding to keep these things in mind, he said. “We know these are tough economic times but at the same time you need to be thoughtful about those decisions,” especially when it comes to rural communities, the staff member said.
Some Republican legislators say that the nation’s $14 trillion debt is the strongest case for defunding public broadcasting. “If I'm asking the Pentagon to cut 15 percent from their procurement budgets and asking congressional and White House offices to cut 15 percent from their bottom lines, it is reasonable for taxpayers to ask the CPB to do without the 15 percent of their budget they get from the taxpayers,” said Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas. His CUTS Act includes a proposal to deplete CPB’s funds (CD Jan 14 p11). CPB will “survive and thrive without taxpayer contribution,” Brady said.
Other bills targeting the funding were introduced by Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo.; Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.; and Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. Cutting public broadcasting is one way to achieve a smaller government, said tea party member Seton Motley, president of Less Government. “I think this time around you're going to see a whole bunch of things that were considered off limits and beyond the ability of passing passed.” Public broadcasting’s job as a watchdog is compromised by government funding, he said. “If you want to turn a watchdog into a lapdog, have the government buy the dog food.” If government is supplying the food, “how much of a watchdog on government is that media going to be?” asked Motley.
Brady said taking away the funding doesn’t make one an enemy of public broadcasting: “KUHF(FM) and KUHT do a great job and they get tremendous support from the local community.” Those stations, an FM outlet and TV broadcaster respectively, are in Houston. Public broadcasting should do more with less, “because virtually no business in America has been able to avoid right sizing in these challenging economic times,” Brady added.
Caucus member Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., defended public broadcasting. Matsui was a former board chair of her district’s PBS TV station. “Eliminating that funding would save Americans less than half a cent a day, and in doing so, eliminate a valuable educational, cultural, and community resource,” Matsui said. Public broadcasting stations “employ over 17,000 people across the country -- jobs that no one can afford to lose,” she added.
Public broadcasting is a “natural resource,” said Public Broadcasting Caucus Co-Chair Anna Eshoo, D-Calif. She'll “challenge any effort to cut its funding or diminish its value,” she said. “Millions of Americans depend on public broadcasting for information, entertainment, and beauty.” Rep. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., intends to join the caucus and “support their efforts to craft a common-sense approach to one of the most successful public-private partnerships in America,” he said.
The issue of funding has recently become partisan, Blumenauer’s staff member said. “It’s a very bipartisan caucus.”