Fight For Public Broadcasting

On Thursday, June 23, 2005 the U.S. House of Representatives approved the Obey-Leach-Lowey amendment by a final vote of 284 to 140. Eighty-seven Republicans joined 196 Democrats and one Independent in voting for the amendment, which restores $100 million previously cut from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s Fiscal 2006 appropriation. House Members reported they heard from millions of public radio and television supporters from all over the country urging them to restore critical funding for CPB, whose Community Service Grants help local stations pay programming costs.

While the amendment approved yesterday restores CPB's appropriation to the full $400 million which had been advance-appropriated two years ago, it did not restore funds for public broadcasting’s digital transition, for renewal and replacement of public television’s satellite interconnection system, and for early learning initiatives such as Ready to Learn.

(Yesterday also brought darker news in the fight for public broadcasting. The Republican-dominated board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) hired a former Republican National Committee chair as the next president, injecting partisanship into the very organization designed to shield public broadcasting from political meddling. This is only the latest effort by White House ally and CPB board chair Kenneth Tomlinson to remake public broadcasting as a partisan mouthpiece.)